She Who Fights Monsters
by Kat-2V
Summary: With her initial training complete, Ilia Amitola departs Menagerie to fight against the oppression that has left her species downtrodden and exiled. Working for her mentor and beside the daughter of her heroes, she will do whatever it takes to free all of the Faunus of Remnant... but the longer she gazes into the abyss, the more she begins to realize that the abyss is gazing back.
1. The Convoy

**She Who Fights Monsters**

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**Chapter 1**

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_"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Nietzsche_

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The SDC convoy was not a particularly large one; five big trucks escorted by one security jeep up front, with another trailing along behind. Maybe a dozen people assigned to take hundreds of thousands of lien worth of dust from the processing facility to the nearest railroad station for the trip to Mistral. Rather than spending hard cash on security it seemed that the Schnees preferred the protection of immense arrogance to go along with the threat of reprisals.

_Arrogant idiots_.

None of the men in the first jeep paid attention to the small ribbon tied around a tree's branch... and none of them saw the slim finger push down on a detonator. The explosion wasn't all that loud, a sharp crack that was more startling than anything else, but it seemed like Trifa had known what she was doing when she'd set the charge.

The ancient oak began to fall even before the blast had stopped echoing in her ears. The tree splintered and cracked when it slammed into the road, easily covering the entire width of the dirt path. Groaning metal joined the sound of breaking wood when the first truck, brakes screeching as the driver desperately tried to stop, slammed directly into it.

Ilia Amitola watched as the front wheels bounced up, trapping it half-atop the fallen tree as the vehicle shuddered and its engine began to vent steam. Horns and more screaming brakes came as the trucks behind all began to frantically slow. The drivers began swerving one way and another to avoid ramming the back of the dust-laden vehicle ahead with mixed results. Two managed it without crashing, the others ran off the road and slammed into yet more trees, making the twilight even more chaotic.

_Perfect._

"Take them!" The woman's ringing shout was louder than it had any right to be. It easily cut through the noise and confusion, and Ilia found herself charging on pure reflex when she heard Sienna's commanding voice.

Bursting out of the copse of trees she'd been hidden within, she drew Lightning Lash as she moved away from the stopped trucks. They were for the others to handle, she and Trifa had a different assignment. The first security jeep had slid to a stop when the driver had realized what had happened behind them, and four humans in the garb of SDC security were tumbling out when she charged the vehicle.

"White Fang!" One of them, a man, bellowed as he scrambled to draw a rifle out of the backseat, his eyes seemingly locked on the white mask covering the majority of her face.

Ilia felt her lips pull into a fighting grin as she flicked her right arm forwards, her thumb gently pushing the button to extend her weapon. The whip snapped across the short distance, cracking against the man's face and making him scream when a red line split across his pale skin. Electricity from the dust she'd loaded made his entire body arch in pain, and he jerked backwards, cracking his head against his own car.

Her grin faltered and she almost stumbled as he fell, clutching at his head. They didn't have aura? They were security guards driving through Grimm infested woods! How did they not have fucking _aura_!?

The hesitation let the other guard on her side of the car get his own weapon up and ready, a rifle that fired a three round burst right into her chest.

She coughed in pained surprise, white light crackling at the impacts and making the guard's eyes widen in panic. "They have a huntress!? How the fuck do-"

Lightning Lash snapped once more as she recovered, this time aiming for the gun rather than the man. Her own weapon wasn't really full-huntsman caliber, she'd made it out of what spare parts the people of Menagerie had been able to donate to the White Fang, so it didn't dramatically slice through the rifle like she'd have preferred.

It did, however, conduct electricity right into the man's body. His finger yanked on the trigger when his muscles clenched up, firing a full burst into the dirt near her feet as he fell to his knees with a pained cry.

"I s-surrender!" He gasped when she pulled her weapon back for a second strike, the words making her freeze once again. "I quit! I quit!"

"Throw it away!" She shouted as she slid to a stop, careful not to get within arm's reach, keeping her weapon up and ready to strike once more. He didn't even hesitate before throwing the rifle into the trees. On seeing it tumble out of sight she nodded firmly before speaking again. "On the ground, hands out and down!"

The guard was obediently flattening himself when Trifa's voice abruptly cut through the air, "Ilia! Left!"

She whipped her head around just as the first guardsman, his face a mess of blood, came rushing at her with a knife. He was nearly twice her size, and even though his attack was a clumsy thrust at her throat, his sheer mass made her flinch back on reflex. The little retreat gave her enough time to fall back to the instincts she'd learned in the training rings, her left arm came up as she began a quick spinning move, putting all of her upper body strength into batting his second slash aside.

"Animal!" His shout came as she continued the motion, falling into a crouch as she built up momentum, "You anim-gah!"

Lightning Lash's sword form rammed into his stomach as she completed the motion. She'd put her entire weight into the blow, the hilt of her weapon slamming against his belly. He coughed violently, blood splattering against her mask as his arms slowly fell limp.

"Fucking... ani...mal..."

Ilia stumbled back, her blood coated blade coming free from his body as he staggered to one side, then fell face-down amid a pool of spreading blood.

_I just... I..._

"Oh gods." The whine made her jump and jerk back around to the other guard, finding him sprawled on the ground and staring in horror at the twitching form of his coworker. His eyes jerked to her, in particular the blood dripping from her weapon, and his voice cracked. "Oh gods... I q-quit! I s-surrender! Please don't kill me!"

"Face in the dirt human!" Trifa snarled as she darted over, a hand falling on Ilia's shoulder while the other pointed one of her daggers at him. "Now!"

The whimpering and begging didn't stop so much as it became muffled by the soil as he planted his face into it, arms well away from his body.

"I..." She felt her arms tremble, and her nose wrinkled as a horrible smell hit it. Her lungs abruptly burned and her stomach rolled while every instinct in her screamed that something was dead near her, that a _person _was dead near her, and that she should be _away _from that dead thing as quickly as possible. Her skin rippled rapidly between colors; blue, green, black, never settling down as she lost control.

Trifa's grip pushed her down to her knees, aiming her away from the prisoner as Ilia heaved.

"Happens to everyone the first time." The older woman murmured, her hand shifting from holding her to gently rubbing at her back. The comfort small but very real. "It's the smell. Go on, get it all out."

She didn't really have a choice. What little she'd managed to eat before the mission came up, as well as whatever was left of her breakfast. After that it was just painful dry heaves that left her shaking.

"There." Trifa gently helped her back up to her feet as she finished, offering her a gentle hug with one arm even as her eyes remained on the prone guard. "Come on, we've got to get this one tied up with mine. Watch my back all right?"

Watch her back... right. Right.

"Y-yes..." She coughed, turned her head, and spit a bit of taste out of her mouth as she leaned a little into the older woman's body. "Yes. Yes. I can do that. Thank you Sister Trifa."

Blue eyes looked at her through the slits of Trifa's mask, then the spider-faunus nodded and stepped away.

Ilia took a few seconds to try and compose herself. She'd somehow kept a hold a hold of Lightning Lash, and the feel of the worn grip in her hands was suddenly far more comforting that it had any right to be. It took another few second for her to realize that her skin was a bright blue, and that she probably made for an excellent target in the dusk light.

By the time Trifa had used her own faunus trait to tie up the last guard with silken ropes and drag him over to where she'd left the two she had subdued, Ilia had gotten herself back under control, her skin returned to its natural tan. She didn't really have anything to clean her weapon with, so she fell to a knee and did her best to wipe it off in the dirt and grass.

"How did they not have aura?" She asked quietly when Trifa returned. "I mean, that's just... idiotic."

"The Schnees? Spend money on actual huntsman to guard their dust?" Trifa snorted. "You really thought we'd be holding off four hunters?"

"Well, no, of course not." She shook her head, the motion letting her see the vomit she'd left on the roadside. Wincing under her mask she rose and took a few cautious steps away from it, "But I thought there'd be at least one of them, or that they'd have it unlocked even if they weren't licensed."

A new voice cut in before Trifa could reply, "Auric users can become beacons for the Grimm if they aren't careful... or I'm sure that's the excuse that old Jacques Schnee gives his investors to explain why he can't be bothered to hire proper guards."

"High Leader." Ilia spun and quickly started to bring her hands together before realizing she still had her weapon clenched in one hand.

Sienna Khan smiled and waved her awkward half-salute away, "No need for that today, Sister Amitola. You have prisoners?"

"Three." Trifa waved at the trio of guards bound in silk ropes. "The last one tried to knife Ilia while she subdued his partner. She gutted him with a Rising Leaf strike."

Sienna's feline ears visibly perked up, and she took a step forwards to better see the body, blood, and to Ilia's shame, the pool of vomit nearby. She considered it all for a second and then nodded slowly, "Sister Trifa, get some help and load those idiots up with the other captives into the last truck. Make sure they don't have a scroll or radio on them, we've taken the radio from that one and we'll leave one driver free to get them to Mistral. They'll be able to spread the word of what we've done here."

"Yes, High Leader."

"Ilia." Sienna lifted a hand, beckoning in a follow-me gesture. Ilia bit her lip but obeyed without question, following the taller woman back towards the rest of the convoy, hitching her weapon onto her belt as they walked.

Men and women were off-loading one of the trucks as quickly as they could, hauling crates of dust up on top of the others and lashing them down as best they could. It would make driving the things even more awkward than it already would be, but they weren't about to leave any of the valuable cargo behind either. Cases of dust moved from one set of arms to another as a small group of humans sat huddled with their hands bound, a handful guards surrounding them while the other faunus worked. One of the wardens was Adam, her friend's attention drifting towards them as they returned.

Sienna waved for him to approach, and then led the pair of them to the edge of the trees. "Adam, I believe you had words for Sister Ilia?"

He grinned, a hand clapping her on the shoulder hard enough to make her stagger. "You did great Ilia. This was the perfect spot for the ambush, and your timing couldn't have been better. This dust will keep us stocked for months. I wish we could record how much old Schnee is going to howl about this."

"I.." She cleared her throat. "Thank you."

Adam seemed to notice her hesitation, his frown obvious even with his own mask hiding his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Sienna spoke, "One of the guards was more foolish than the others and attacked her after they surrendered. She killed him."

The tall man processed that, looking up and down her. Clearly taking in the spots of blood still on Lightning Lash, and whatever had gotten onto her uniform. He let out a slow breath before reaching out and gently wrapping his strong fingers around her shoulder. "How?"

Ilia swallowed, her words coming out slowly. "He thrust at my throat. I countered, then used a Rising Leaf spin. I... I took him in the stomach. I must... must have got an artery or something. He died once I pulled the weapon out. Bled out fast."

He nodded and spoke again, "You throw up?"

"...everything I had in me."

"It happens to a lot of people." He smiled a little. "You remember me throwing up as soon as we got back to camp after that bandit attack? I still have a hard time eating pork belly."

She couldn't help but smile at the memory. "Blake thought you were dying."

Sienna chuckled, reaching out to place a hand on Ilia's free shoulder, and her other onto one of Adam's. "Remember to laugh like this, the both of you. What we're doing is hard, it can break us if don't remember to laugh. If we don't remember people like Blake. The people we're fighting for. It's hard, but it's also necessary. It's not glorious, but our children will remember us as the heroes who gave them a better world."

Both of them nodded, and Ilia felt the ache in her chest ease and the turmoil in her stomach retreat. "Thank you, High Leader."

That earned her a quick grin, "Don't thank me just yet, I've got another job for the both of you. Brother Vajo swears by the ancient gods that the convoy didn't get a distress call out, and we've got two shiny jeeps with a snowflake on their doors. We also have eight security badges that are still active."

Ilia blinked, not quite understanding, but Adam grinned once more. "You want to hit the mine itself? Tonight?"

Sienna showed her teeth, "Two birds with one stone. According to the driver I questioned, with the convoy out the security there is just two platoons of robots plus a security squad. Civilians are a half-dozen admin types and about fifty workers. Mixed human and faunus, all paid in company script."

Meaning they were all virtual slaves regardless of their species. Ilia nodded once, "What is the plan?"

"Trifa will take command of the convoy and get it back to camp. You two, myself, and five others will pack into the jeeps and use them to get past the automated guns and the outer gate." Sienna turned her gaze solely to her, "Once we're inside, you're lead scout again. Find us the best way to their central control while we shut down the outer defenses."

"What about the trucks?" Adam asked, waving a hand at them, "If we overload a second one we could get more dust out."

There a sharp shake of her head. "No. This is strictly demolition, sending a message that even the SDC can't miss. We get the workers out, we collapse the mine, and we're gone before sunrise. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am." They both chorused.

"Good. Adam, you know how to drive, take the back car with Ilia. I'll send you two more and have them grab enough badges. I'll drive the other jeep."

Another round of nods came before Sienna turned and strode purposefully away, shouting names as she picked out more people for the new mission. Ilia watched her go, more than a little envious of how effortlessly her charisma surrounded her. _Maybe one day I'll be half the leader she is..._

Adam gave her a light jostle with his elbow, his voice teasing, "You can stare worshipfully at our high leader's ass later, we've got work to do."

She felt her cheeks burn as her spots turned pink, her hair whipping around when she spun to glare at him. "I was _not _checking her out!"

"That's what you always say," He grinned as she stomped along beside him, the pair walking towards their new ride. "But you always turn pink when I taunt you about it."

"At least I'm not pining for a fourteen year old." She hissed in reply.

It was Adam's turn to flush and his own voice lowered. "I don't _pine _for Blake, and you think she's cute too."

"But I don't encourage her." Ilia retaliated as they reached the jeep, falling silent until they'd gotten inside. It had a nicer interior than she'd have thought, the seat some kind of fake-leather that still proved to be comfortable, though the area in front of Adam was covered in actual dials and gauges rather than holographic displays. "You know that Ghira will threaten you the next time we're on Menagerie. Assuming he doesn't just strangle you on sight for looking at his daughter."

Adam sighed and let his head fall back, "I'm more worried about Kali... and _no, _I haven't done anything with Blake. I'm a terrorist, not a monster. I'm less worried about her trying to sneak into my bed than I am about her wanting to start coming on combat missions."

Ilia winced, "...I thought you were going to talk to her about that."

"I did. Didn't work." He reached up and pulled his mask off, revealing the vicious brand that had half-blinded him. An idle toss left it to clatter onto the dash, letting him rub tiredly at his face as he spoke. "Maybe you can try, but the girl's as stubborn as her parents. She's fifteen in a month, she's making the finishing touches on her weapon, and she's already unlocked her semblance."

Her hands tightened in her lap, her memory helpfully showing her the man she'd... killed not ten minutes ago. "...gods. I don't... we _kill_ people Adam."

His voice sharpened slightly. "Racists working for a company that enslaves our people. That did _this _to me."

Her expression twisted in pain as he waved at his face. "I know, and the man I just... The man I just gutted called me an _animal_ with his last breath, but can you picture _Blake _killing someone?"

Adam tried to keep his anger going, but after a few seconds his shoulders slumped. "...no. She's already worried about me, about how I've killed on missions. What happens when she sees me cut down someone? What happens when _she _has to be the one throwing up on a road?"

Ilia closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the seat. Her stomach rolled unpleasantly again, despite the fact that there couldn't be anything in it, Sienna's bolstering words unable to stop the memories of the man's legs and arms twitching as he bled out. "...can we... not talk about this right now?"

"...sorry." His voice was quiet. "When we get back to camp? The three of us can have dinner, like the old days. Maybe the two of us can talk sense into her."

"...yeah, that sounds... that sounds good."

They sat in silence, not saying anything until motion in one of the mirrors made Adam glance behind them. He exhaled heavily and picked his mask back up, fixing it into place just as Van and Aryl clambered into the back-seat. The latter passed a pair of plastic cards up front while his brother grimaced and muttered about the seat pinching his tail.

"You sure these will let us past the auto-guns?"

Adam nodded as he glanced at his before tucking it into his coat, "Those are intended for the Grimm. They shouldn't shoot at us anyway, but these will make sure of it. We'll be through the gate before they even think to override them."

The man nodded, looking reassured, then glanced at Ilia and seemed to freeze. What tanned skin was visible beneath his mask paled, and he coughed quietly into a fist. "Uhm... Sister, your mask..."

Ilia blinked, reaching up to take it off. Turning it over in her hands nearly made her lose control of her stomach again as she saw the splatters of red already drying across the white. "...do you have a cloth?"

He didn't, but Van found a towel in the back and tossed it forwards. The blood came away as she furiously scrubbed it down, neither of the wolf faunus in the back-seat saying anything as she worked.

A loud honk came as she was wiping at it for the third time, it still didn't seem clean for some reason, and all of them looked up to see that Sienna had gotten the first jeep around the fallen tree and was slowly heading down the road.

"Let's get this done." Adam said as he started the engine. "For the faunus."

"For the faunus." Ilia murmured as they started rolling forwards, her eyes returning to the splattered cloth in her hands.

Adam pressed a button, lowering her window without speaking, or so much as glancing at her.

The bloody towel fluttered along behind the car when she threw it out.

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_**So despite my best efforts, I'm back to writing fan-fiction. This is intended mostly as a kind of... stress relief, a way to avoid burning myself out while I work on an original work. Ten chapters of that in one month made me feel both accomplished and exhausted, so I hit on the idea of alternating between that and a new story as a way of avoiding burn-out.**_

_**Right now the plan is for a weekly release cycle, posting Monday mornings. This particular story is firmly outlined and I intend to actually stay on my outline for once, and will last nineteen chapters. It will be very open ended with plenty of room for a sequel if people enjoy it, otherwise it will be able to stand alone. I know a lot of you will probably be dissapointed that this isn't Student of Vacuo 2... but that's just too long of a concept for what I'd like to do right now.  
**_

_**This is going to be an AU story starting several years before RWBY itself, and is going to be entirely from Ilia's point of view, focusing on her time in the White Fang and how it slides from Sienna's vision into Adam's. There will be a lot of self-examination, a lot of discrimination, and the expected acts of terrorism given that the White Fang will be central to the story.**_

_**For clarity in regards to ages in this story, since it's never really been made clear in canon beyond Adam being older than Blake: Ilia and Adam are seventeen (or there about), and Blake is fourteen (a month from fifteen), placing this chapter roughly two and a half years before RWBY Season 1. I'm not going to say anything in regards to pairing or romance save to say that they will not be central to the story at all. **_

_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

_**Thanks, Kat**_


	2. The Raid

**Chapter 2**

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The tension mounted inside the jeep as they followed Sienna towards the mining complex, everyone able to see the automated turrets set up against a broad wall as their vehicle cleared the forest. Proving that they weren't entirely incompetent, the SDC had created something close to a hundred meter kill zone, making certain that no Grimm could cross the distance before the turrets could engage them.

Of course, that level of paranoia wouldn't have been necessary if they weren't keeping their workers as abused wage-slaves who generated negative emotions with every breath, so Ilia wasn't inclined to give the company any credit for their forethought.

Crossing the no-man's-land seemed to take hours instead of twenty or thirty seconds. The nervous energy didn't fade into something more focused until they were nearly at the open gate. Sienna gunned her engine ahead of them as soon as a guard stepped out of the open entryway, and Adam floored it a fraction of a second later to keep pace.

The human ahead barely managed to dive back into the gatehouse before Sienna's jeep roared through the space he'd just occupied. Adam followed her lead, keeping the accelerator flattened and making the engine roar as he got them into the courtyard before anyone could think to shut the gate. Ilia felt her seat-belt dig into her chest as they went from speeding to skidding when he abruptly slammed on the breaks, Van and Aryl cursing up a storm behind them as they were likewise thrown against their restraints. Adam had been the only one ready to brace himself, and he was diving out of the car the moment it had stopped moving.

"Giant, arrogant, bastard of a-" She swore as she ripped her seat-belt off and shoved her door open. He'd had the foresight to yank the parking break on his way out, so at least the jeep had stopped. "-where'd you learn to drive!?"

"Less talking, more fighting!" He shouted as he raced towards the wall, Sienna's chain already flashing beneath the spotlights while she attacked the recovering guard. "Find a way inside!"

Resisting the urge to tell him that she knew her job, Ilia let her skin ripple to black and got moving deeper into the complex. The first alarms began to blare from speakers before she'd gone more than a few steps, automated lights flicking on and aiming their beams at the fighting near the gate. She didn't have any problems avoiding them, whoever was directing the lights probably missing the single dark form moving off on its own.

_Which gives me time to look around._

By the standards of the SDC, it was a very small mine. Built into the side of a large hill, it's center was a heavy concrete block of a building worked into the earth. It had numerous loading doors, plus another large truck backed up nearby, leading her to guess that it was the entrance to the actual mining tunnels. Next to it, connected by a sky-bridge, was a slightly less ugly three story structure she hoped was the main headquarters and control center. Just beyond that, surrounded by their own fencing, were a pair of bland tenements.

The workers' homes... the people who pulled up the wealth the company relied on were trusted so little that they were kept caged even inside a walled compound.

_Getting them out will come later. Stay on mission._

Most of the staff inside the main building must have still been awake because the first AK-130's were marching out of the probable-headquarters when she began her approach. The mech's advance blocked her direct route, and she twisted her lips in frustration before cutting to her left. The move into the deeper darkness served to give her a few seconds to call on her semblance before any of the androids could detect her. Shadows wrapped up around at her once, taking her natural camouflage from merely letting her blind in with the darkness and turning it into something close to true invisibility.

So long as no one snapped a light in her direction, or otherwise screwed with the area near her at least. Her semblance wasn't perfect, but so far as anyone could tell it worked on anything. Grimm, Human, Faunus, Machines... she could potentially avoid them all so long as she stayed in shadows, and so long as no one new to directly focus on where she was.

_Time to hope none of them picked me up beforehand... _

Ilia blew out a breath and put on more speed. This was her best chance and she knew it; the security door would close once the machines were clear and then it would a real pain to break in. Her legs burned as she sprinted forwards, keeping a wary eye on the Atlesian Knights as she moved past them. None of them seemed to detect her; her semblance and their single-minded focus on the the battle near the gate keeping her clear. She was nearly at the door when someone inside shouted for the mechs to move faster, one last machine walking out before the door began to slide downwards.

She was too close to abort, and too far away to simply run under it. So instead she threw herself forwards, hitting the ground just outside of the doorway, and then rolled frantically in before the steel could clang shut.

Her momentum caused to her to smack right into a pair of legs, a man letting out a startled shriek and falling onto his ass in surprise and fear.

"Fuck!" She swore even as they both kicked at one another, trying to free up their legs.

"They're inside!" He had to be young because his voice cracked while she tried to get to her feet. For his part he didn't even try to stand up, instead just scrambling away from her. "They're inside!"

Getting upright as quickly as she could, she raised her weapon to find a teenager in an ill-fitting manager's uniform, a much better alternative than a guard with a gun. His face was still spotted with red, and his expression made it clear he was a few seconds away from losing control of his bladder.

Apart from that, there was no one. He must have just been the closest one to the door and been sent to release the Atlesian Knights before locking down the entryway.

_I got lucky..._

"Shut up!" Her voice was already a bit low for a woman, but she went as low and rough as she could to up the intimidation factor. "Stop moving!"

He failed at the former, whimpering and gasping something about this not actually happening, but succeeded in staying put on the floor. That gave her a couple more seconds to take a better look around, revealing a fairly bland entryway. An abandoned security station was just ahead, complete with a weapon's detector and helpful signs saying what was and wasn't allowed inside. A nearby door was open to a darkened room, a glance inside letting her guess it was probably where the mechs had come from.

More important was the small collection of controls in between that door and the main entrance, and she carefully stepped towards them while keeping an eye on her latest prisoner.

"Lever there unlock the security door?" She demanded, waving her free hand towards a bright red lever next to a keypad. "Yes or no!?"

"Y-yes!" He whimpered, "I'm, I'm I-Important! Y-you can't kill me! My f-father will pay you millions for me!"

"If your father was that rich you'd be in Atlas." Ilia replied as she reached out to grab the lever, grunting a little with the effort to force it back up. The bright red lights around the doorway dutifully turned blue, and there was a quiet groan as the door began to rise back into the ceiling.

The teenager surged away the second her attention was diverted, his footwear making squeaking, screeching sounds as he tried to stand and run at the same time. Sighing, she turned and lifted her weapon again, aiming for a short second before lightly caressing the trigger. The mild bolt of electricity took him in the back, and he went down with another shriek.

He was still twitching when half of an Atlesian Knight came flying through the now-open door, Sienna following it with a wicked grin on her lips. She slid to a halt beside her, chain up and ready before she relaxed on realizing no one else was present. "Excellent work Ilia!"

Ilia felt her spots flare to a mild pink at the praise. "We should hurry, I don't know if they can override-"

She hadn't even finished speaking when an alarm blared and the door began to lower on its own accord. Cursing under her breath, she whipped back around to the controls but only found the emergency lever she'd already set, along with a small keypad that lacked a nice 'override' button for her to try. There was a 'lock' button however, and she slammed it down with her thumb... then wished she was surprised when nothing happened.

This time her distraction meant she didn't see Sienna move until the High Leader had grabbed her and hauled her backwards just as Adam sprinted in, ducking just in time to avoid clipping his horns on the descending door. Behind him, Van and Aryl came tumbling in more like she had. The pair rolled the space she'd just occupied, groaning and trying to disentangle themselves while while Adam's head swiveled as he checked for targets, only to come up as empty as Sienna had.

"Nothing in the area, just a self-important idiot." She informed him before glancing at Sienna. "What about the team from your car ma'am?"

"They will guard the vehicles, finish off the mechs, then watch for Grimm." Sienna patted her once on the shoulder before starting to head inwards, tapping Adam on the arm as she did. "Adam, you're up front with me, Van, Aryl, you're rearguard. Ilia, your prisoner?"

Ilia shrugged. "An important teenager who's worth millions, and is also about to wet himself if he hasn't already."

The taller woman snorted and simply stepped over the teenager as she walked past. Adam took the more direct route and stepped _on _him, making the boy gasp in pain just as he'd begun to recover from the shock she'd given him. Ilia followed Sienna's lead and walked around, but from the sound of it one of the two men behind her gave him a decent kick as they moved past.

Sienna paused at a helpful map just past the security station, nodded once as she apparently memorized it, and led them down dull gray hallways until they reached a stairwell. They went up quickly but cautiously, the two brothers keeping their guns up and watching behind while Adam kept the shotgun portion of his own weapon up and aimed ahead.

After a quick pause to check the doorway on the second floor, Sienna and Adam formed up side by side as they advanced. Ilia gave them a second, then moved out after them, Aryl catching up with her while his brother stayed another meter behind.

"Love the ambiance." The wolf faunus gave her a grin as they carefully advanced down empty halls. "Nothing says corporate arrogance like having your logo plastered on holographic displays in an otherwise empty hallway."

The snort came out before she could stop it, her eyes glancing up at the snowflake and SDC lettering rolling by along both walls. "They should have pictures of the Schnee family instead. Then people could throw darts at moving targets when they got bored."

Aryl snickered, and even Adam barked out a laugh, a sound that cut off when echoing footfalls began to come from every direction. "More androids! Coming from ahead!"

"Covering fire!" Sienna ordered as she loosened the chain around her right arm, accelerating into a charge. "Adam, Ilia, up front with me!"

Cursing her shorter legs, she stretched them as much as she could and had just barely caught up to the others when the first Knights began to emerge from the intersection just ahead. These were already in full close-combat mode, blades extended and moving with more speed than the marching ones she'd slipped past outside.

With only a meter or so of space between them, the Atlesian Knights were on top of their raiding group almost as soon as they became visible. Weapons clashed and metal rang as faunus and android all but ran into one another. Ilia focused on the one closest to her, cutting her weapon at it right arm to block a thrust from a wedge-shaped blade. The android fought in silence, pulling back and then cutting at her head with its left arm... slowly.

So painfully slowly. It was probably fast enough to fight small Grimm, and definitely fast enough to beat down angry civilians, but to a huntress? Even one with her rushed and limited training? The thing was practically glacial in its movements.

She had no problems at all recovering and slashing at its waist before it was even halfway through its own follow-up. The weak joint gave way on impact, the top half falling away with a crack of metal and a few sparks. She turned her head to find a second target, and only barely got her weapon up to block another Knight bringing both of its blades down at her head.

The mechs might fall apart if you hit them in the right spot, but the damned things hit _hard. _Ilia gasped and almost buckled with the effort of holding the blades away from her scalp.

Sienna took its head off with a kick, then was gone in a blur of stripes and metal as her chain and fists tore through another pair of mechs faster than Ilia had dealt with just one. Adam surged past on her other side, his blade cutting through an android as if it had been made of paper rather than metal, while the brothers behind them combined their gunfire to deal with the last member of the initial wave.

The five of them had just enough time to take a few steps forwards before the next group emerged at the far end of the hall. Ilia sucked in a sharp breath when their arms rotated, configuring themselves into gunnery mode, and began accelerating when Adam and Sienna likewise resumed their charge.

Her whip cracked as she brought it up, swinging it in quick motions to deflect which of the low-velocity shots she thought were coming at her, Adam's sword and Sienna's chain likewise blurring as they did their best to preserve their aura. Sparks flew as shots ricocheted away, or drew more colorful marks when they got through to be turned aside by their aura.

But as many as the rounds as they got, they couldn't get them all, and at least one of the Knights wasn't aiming for them.

"Brother!" The pained cry came from behind, and Ilia jerked her head back to see Van on the ground, clutching at his shoulder while Aryl slid to a stop beside him.

She hesitated, her forward sprint skipping a step, and then took three quick hits to her chest, gasping in pain as her aura stopped her from being instantly killed. Swearing under her breath, she got her eyes forwards where they had to be. Ahead, Adam slid to a halt and stepped right, Wilt whirling in his hands as he kept himself between the wounded regulars and the attacking mechs.

"Take them!" Sienna barked as she moved to join Adam's blocking position, "We'll cover the wounded!"

"Yes ma'am!" Ilia called as she ran past them, Lightning Lash snapping out as quickly as her tiring arms could make it move while she drew closer.

Both of the front-line mechs corrected their aim to focus on her as their programming realized she was the most important target. Her bob and weaving motion didn't help as much as it would have against a group of humans, the robots better able to simple keep their aim directly on her. More shots slipped through her guard, pain flaring with each hit as her aura rapidly began to plummet.

The shout she released when she reached close range was half battle-cry, half scream of pain, neatly summing up everything she was feeling in a single wordless sound. She leaped and began to spin, the first strike of her weapon beheading a Knight before it could take more than a step backwards. Her momentum carried her forwards, letting her complete the spin and take the second target in the waist, Lightning Lash crackling as it cut through the weak point.

Knight number three was in melee mode, and ran itself onto her weapon as she continued her turn and firmly planted her feet. Her finger tightened on the trigger, sending the last bits of dust in the hilt into the machine, shorting out its systems and sending it tipping backwards to crash down.

...letting her see five more of them rushing straight for her.

Her left foot slipped back slightly as she tried to reset, then a black and red form blurred past on her right as Adam took the lead. Wilt flashed in red arcs, the dust blade seemingly cutting the air apart as it effortlessly tore through the androids before they could even make an effort to block or avoid.

A little pool of jealousy welled up in her stomach at the reminder that Adam had a full huntsman's weapon in comparison to her scrapyard creation... a pool that widened when he took the next two down just as effortlessly, not even taking a single hit as he did.

_Show off..._

"Move on." Sienna stated as she moved past, "Van will make it if we can clear this floor."

Ilia glanced back to see Aryl finish helping his brother sit against a wall, Van's gun in his lap as he weakly waved for him to move on. She bit her lip but obeyed her orders, turning away once again and running after her compatriots. She caught up just as they reached the next intersection, all of them slowing to take the turn. According to the very helpful signs on the walls, the manager's offices and the security center were both right around the corner, meaning they were nearly done.

Sienna and Adam both slid to a stop a second after reaching the opening, something her exhausted muscles managed a few beats too late, leaving her standing in the center of the hall in time to see six living security guards with rifles aiming directly at them. It was all she could do to awkwardly backpedal into cover, wincing a little as the building's alarms finally began to blare; blue lights shifting to red all around them while bursts of gunfire hammered into the walls.

"I can-" Adam's proposed plan was cut off when a grenade bounced between them. Ilia had just enough to time stare at it in horror before it began venting a cloud of foul smelling smoke.

She tried to suck in a quick breath and hold it, but she wasn't quite fast enough. Gas filled her nose and lungs, and for the second time in the same night she found herself retching and hacking as she tried to breath. Some vague part of her heard the sounds of combat, and a man coughing and swearing. Aryl must have caught up just in time to get a lungful of the stuff as well.

_Get clear... have to get clear..._

Stumbling blindly, she could only tell she was free of it when a half-clean breath of air filled her mouth, her shaking hands pulling her mask away as she tried to breath. Gasping, she managed a couple more steps and then looked up in time to see Sienna and Adam effortlessly beating down the security team... they must have been able to hold their breath, unlike her. That or they'd gotten a much better breath in before the gas had hit them. Or both.

Shame at her failure mixed with envy at their skills and weapons, then both emotions faded as Adam kicked down the last guard.

His posture... changed as he did it, his hand shifting his blade into a downward grip while he stalked towards the downed man. The chiseled tip was aimed at the guard's heart, and her mouth was opening to ask just _what _he was doing when Sienna beat her to it.

"Adam!" The High Leader's voice was sharp, "Let's move. Ilia, Aryl, get them outside and secured."

Adam hesitated, then seemed to shake himself slightly and nodded. Ilia slowly put her mask back into place as the two ran into the control room, terrified shouts and cries following as they handled the managers.

_ He was about to... no. I can't think about that now. _

"Come on." She said quietly, casting her eyes over the groaning guards. The fight had been pretty well beaten out of them, but whatever Adam had been about to do had left them all nervously glancing at her weapon and Aryl's rifle.

"Let's get this over with."

* * *

Ilia leaned against the front of their stolen security jeep, watching as the mine workers cautiously began to assemble in a nervous crowd. Those nerves probably weren't being helped by the sight of the SDC's staff on their knees, hands bound behind them while the masked forms of Aryl and the others from Sienna's car stood guard around them.

"They're lucky we're leaving them alive." Van growled from where he was sitting on the jeep's hood, his left arm bound in a sling they'd found in a small medical station. Her skills with patching someone up weren't anything to write home about, just enough to make sure he wasn't going to die and hopefully stop bleeding, but Sienna had easily picked up that she was the most exhausted out of everyone present.

So it was medical duty for her while everyone else corralled the prisoners, set mining charges against dust deposits, and got the workers to come out of their rooms.

"Killing them wouldn't help the cause." She said quietly, thinking more about Adam and the prone guard than the bound prisoners.

That earned her a disbelieving look, brown eyes narrowing behind his mask. "You're the last person I'd expect to defend those bastards after what happened to your parents."

"I'm not defending them." Ilia snapped, her spots flaring to an angry scarlet. "But the more of them we kill the harder they crack down on other faunus, the ones still trapped in other mines or stuck in other shit jobs."

He glowered at her. "You think they won't crack down anyway?"

She shrugged, "There's a difference between the Schnee's doing more awful shit, and _Atlas _making it policy. If the SDC keeps making things worse they just prove our point and get us recruits, maybe even make more of the humans take notice and actually _do _something. Isn't that the point of all this? But if Atlas make things worse we're in another faunus war and the Atlesian Air Fleet is bombarding Kuo Kuana tomorrow morning... which means we _lose. _We lose everything. If we have to kill people we pick them _very _carefully."

He winced, straightened a little as if ready to argue... then slumped tiredly. "...dammit. Our grandparents should never have taken that deal. All Menagerie does is give those assholes a hostage to use against us, better to have just started the war for our rights then and there."

"Not their fault three of the kingdoms reneged on their promises, or that the last one is an anarchic mess." Ilia said quietly. "And at least a lot of faunus have a safe place to grow up now."

"...I guess." Van leaned back with a quiet groan, his back resting against the windshield as Sienna hopped onto a crate and waved for the workers to approach. "Think they'll appreciate what we've done for them?"

It was too far for them to really hear whatever speech the High Leader was giving, but she could read the crowd's body language easily enough. Maybe half, all of them faunus, were practically weeping and looked ready to mob Sienna in celebration. The others were somewhere between aghast, horrified, and terrified of what had happened and what it would mean for their lives.

"...not as much as either of us would like. This place was awful, but it was the only job most of them could get." She sighed. "Company script or not, processed and crap food or not, it was probably still better than what they'd get on the streets in Mistral."

"Fucking humans. Fucking Mistral." He shook his head and let it rest backwards. "...think I'll get leave back home for this little hole in my shoulder?"

She shrugged, not minding the change in subject. "I'd guess so. You've probably got a few weeks of recovery unless you want your aura unlocked."

He shuddered a little. "No thanks. The super powers are cool and all but I'd rather not need years of training that still results in me being a walking Grimm-magnet at the end."

That made her smile a little, "Fair enough, I guess. Come on, looks like she's directing the ones who want to leave to that truck. Let's get you in the back and get ready as well."

Soon enough they'd be back at camp... and she'd have to tell Blake about what she'd done.

And talk to Adam about what he'd nearly done.

* * *

_**And I'm ahead of schedule, so we'll see if we can change the releases to be Monday/Thursday instead of just Mondays. Here we get the events from the raid scene in the Adam character short, and next we'll get to deal with the aftermath as well as meeting up with a young and idealistic crusader named Blake.  
**_

_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

_**Thanks, Kat**_


	3. The Camp

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Their camp didn't look like much.

Maybe a dozen camouflaged tents were scattered beneath old trees, serving to let them sleep in some degree of comfort. Eating and working was done more in the open, with large tarps spread between branches to provide shade and a bit of protection from the rain. It was nothing like their main headquarters in southern Anima, that facility a full blown base hidden inside of a small mountain, but then this little camp wasn't supposed to be anything like that.

One of the downsides to being considered terrorists meant you had to travel light, and travel often. It had been that way in Ghira's day as well, even when they'd been peaceful activists, before Atlas had declared them an illegal organization and Mistral had quickly followed suit. It was best not to give the humans and their vigilantes an easy target, a place they could focus on. Better to be ready to move fast and quiet when you needed to avoid trouble.

Back then Ilia had wondered every night if what they were doing was actually working. If real change for the Faunus would come, if one day they would be accepted instead of being cast out.

She still wasn't sure... but there had never been a day under Ghira that felt like this one. No day of picketing, no amount of letter writing, no halfhearted interviews with reporters could ever come close to matching the feeling that _action_ could bring. That victory could bring. Even with the weight in her chest from what she'd done, the empty feeling in her stomach, it still felt... it felt so _good_ to see the smiles of those workers.

Everyone else seemed to agree, because the camp was positively bursting with noise and happiness.

Trucks were parked haphazardly where they could fit between the trees and tents, without even a token effort to hide them. Those few who'd even tried to do so had been mobbed almost at once by the thirty or so workers who'd decided that leaving with the White Fang was better than staying. The civilians were nervous but excited, laughing and hugging anyone they could get a hold of. Men and women alike gushed with gratitude, boasted of what their lives could be on Mengarie, slapping their new brothers and sisters on the back as they thanked them.

Sienna had more or less given up on giving orders, instead simply shaking every hand offered and laughing along with everyone else. A few token guards were set in case a Grimm wandered by, but the rest of their company was more than happy to celebrate their unqualified victory with their newly freed brothers and sisters.

"Look at them." Ilia smiled as she leaned against a tree, her spots glowing a dull but contented orange. "Yesterday they were people who didn't get paid enough to even visit Mistral, and tomorrow they'll be seeing the world."

Blake grinned back at her, "And they'll be going to a place that will welcome them."

"Not all of them." Adam said from his place on Blake's other side. He was the only one still wearing his mask, for reasons that both she and Blake fully understood. "I talked with a few of the younger ones, they want to join us. To fight for the others still trapped in other mines, or in worse jobs than that."

"Like we do." Blake said as she looked out at the crowd, missing Ilia and Adam exchanging significant looks behind her back. "Did Sienna say what the plan is before she got dragged into the crowd?"

Ilia coughed, spots dimming as her good mood fell. "Uh, we're leaving at first light, soon as we can get the trucks through the trees again. Half of the dust and all of the workers who aren't joining will drive straight south for the coast with an escort. Everyone else will be headed back to headquarters."

"Good." Her friend nodded before glancing between the two, her gaze lingering longer on Adam than on her. "Um, I made food for you both. If you're hungry. It's just soup but it's fresh and hot."

"That sounds good, we..." Adam paused, then sighed and shook his head, "The three of us needed to talk anyway."

Dark ears flattened as Blake's eyes narrowed. She gave both of them sharp looks, then lifted her nose in the air and strode angrily towards the nearest tent.

Ilia grimaced and felt her freckles flare to a depressed blue as the two of them followed her through the canvas flap. Blake's was one of the larger ones in the camp, with more than enough room for all three of them despite the fact that she wasn't a combat-level huntress yet. Or a ranking member of the White Fang. The Belladonna name might not have meant as much as it once had, not since her parents had left the fight to administer Menagerie, but it definitely still meant _something_. Blake usually had her pick of supplies and rations ahead of anyone else, although she showed a surprising level of maturity in not taking advantage of it.

...unless they were serving fish for dinner, in which case everyone else had learned to race for the food line before she could eat half of what was available.

Blake sat on her bedroll without a word, waving towards the small pot bubbling atop the equally little portable heater. She'd already set out bowls and spoons, and candles were burning merrily on a small table nearby. For her part Ilia simply sat on the ground beside the limited offerings before serving herself some, glad to see actual meat in the liquid.

_Someone must have gotten a deer while we were preparing the ambush. Thank the gods, I was sick of just broth and vegetables._

Adam sat as well, closer to Blake than to her, and after a glance and a nod she poured filled up his bowl with some of the venison stew as well.

Their younger friend kept her mouth shut for about a minute while they slurped broth and wolfed down slightly overcooked meat before she lost her temper, "You're going to try and talk me out of it again, aren't you?"

"Blake..." Adam tried.

"No." Arms crossed high on her chest as golden eyes flicked between them. "I've already made up my mind, and you can't change it no matter what you say!"

Ilia cast her eyes down at her bowl. "...I killed a man today, Blake."

"I just said that it's not going to work! I'm-" The near shouting abruptly shifted into a choking sound. It took the younger woman a few moments to recover, her eyes very wide. "What? Ilia?"

She licked her lips and shook her head once, disguising her inability to speak by taking a long sip from her bowl. Adam sighed and spoke for her, "She wounded a guard, thought he was down and out. He got up and tried to jump her while she took another one prisoner, went for her throat with a knife. She deflected it and countered. He didn't have aura. It was quick."

Blake's mouth worked, opening and closing soundlessly several times. She recovered slowly, took in a few more breaths, then carefully slid around the heating pad. Ilia closed her eyes as her friend hugged her tightly, their temples touching.

Ilia exhaled slowly, an arm carefully wrapping around Blake in turn. "...it was bad, Blake. I didn't like it. I don't want you to have to go through that. Neither does Adam."

There was a slight shudder, then Blake tightened her grip once before gently pulling back, her ears flat. "I... I don't want to kill anyone either. But... Ilia, I can't just sit here, making food and hoping you all come back alive. I've done that for a year with Adam, and now you're back and starting missions and I'm just... I have a semblance. Aura. Training. I _have _to use it. I have to."

"Blake," She tried, only for a pale hand to cut through the air.

"I have no right to sit here, safe and sound, while you two are risking your lives to save the faunus." Blake said firmly. "I stayed with the White Fang to do good. To fight for our people. I didn't stay to be kept safe as some kind of stupid rallying symbol against my parents!"

Ilia looked helplessly at Adam, then felt her jaw clench when he just shook his head and sipped more soup. _We'll both talk to her... yeah, right. Guess it's up to me._

"Even if that means killing someone?" She didn't want to fight with Blake, but she didn't know what else to do besides play hardball. And... it was as though her mouth simply began to move without an input with her brain, words tumbling out as if her body simply _had _to expel them. "Blake I just... I ended a man's life! I gutted him! You can't imagine... maybe he was a racist, maybe he was just protecting his partner, maybe he was just doing his job, but none of us will ever know because I left him bleeding out in the middle of nowhere!"

Her words made an immediate impression. Blake flinched, her ears flattening even more as she quickly looked away from her. She seemed to stare at a still silent Adam for a moment, then cast her eyes down at the ground instead. "I-"

"I can still smell it." Ilia closed her eyes and shuddered. "The blood. And... worse. And I know I did what I had to, and I know I'm going to have... to have to do it again, but I still want to throw up. I can't stop seeing the blood on my mask. Seeing his body twitching and bleeding while his friend stared at me like I was a Grimm or-"

"Ilia!" Adam cut her off sharply, "That's enough! She got the point!"

Ilia sucked in a breath, realizing she'd gone fully blue somewhere in her miniature rant, her spots a bright and lonely green. It took serious effort to at least get her skin back to a natural tan, but her spots merely shifted to a sullen azure. "...I'm sorry."

Blake had shifted away from her again, her eyes still averted as she breathed heavily. This time it was Adam who moved, swinging himself around so he was settled beside her. She leaned into him at once, tucking herself under his arm and against his side in an almost reflexive way.

It made her give Adam another dark look as a little twinge of anger tried to brush its way past her depression, but his own expression remained stoic as he spoke quietly, carefully. Like he was afraid she was about to bolt. "Forgive her, Blake. The first time is always hard, and she's been our lead scout for the last two months. It's not an easy job."

Her eyes narrowed, but she said nothing as he continued, clearly speaking more to Blake than to her. "I don't want you fighting anymore than she does... but you're right. There's more you can do than just making soup, more you were born to do than just be a symbol kept safe in the back ranks. You can scout for us, do recon. No one can catch you, not with your semblance. You'd leave them behind in a second."

A slight shudder came as Blake lifted her head, "...maybe."

Ilia exhaled and finally got her freckles to darken as she spoke up, her voice a little rough but under control, "There's also Grimm duty. We got lucky today, but we might not be next time. Maybe then the workers we save will be traumatized and depressed, and we'll be all that's protecting them from Beowolves or Ursa. You've got a better weapon than I do, and a good combat semblance. I know Yuma would appreciate the help on sentry duty, and watching our backs when we're out there."

Shoulders rose and fell as Blake's breathing slowly steadied. "Maybe. I was... I'm going to talk to Higher Leader about it when we get back. I'll think about it. All of it.'

"That's all we're asking." Adam said, a hand reaching to stroke the edge of a furry ear. "You mind if Ilia and I talked outside for a minute? I can bring us back some bread and water after."

"That... sounds good."

Ilia pursed her lips as she set her half-empty bowl aside, quietly thanking Blake for the food before standing up. Adam took a bit longer, making sure Blake was comfortable on her bedroll and not-so-subtly nudging her book of the week a bit closer with one foot as he rose. The young woman rolled her eyes a little but picked it up all the same, seemingly content to distract herself with some light reading while the two of them slipped outside.

Adam led her away, closer to where his tent was setup at the edges of the camp. Everyone else was apparently still celebrating, getting to know one another, or finally getting back to work preparing the camp to be broken come morning.

"What the _fuck _was that?" Adam's voice was a hiss as he stopped, casting a quick look around to make sure no one was nearby before he raised his voice. "We were supposed to talk her down! Not traumatize her!"

"I didn't hear much talking from you." Ilia spoke through equally clenched teeth, "I had to say _something_!"

"Did you? I had it under control, if you'd just waited for my lead we could have talked her down calmly!" His head shook sharply, "You know how Blake gets when she's upset, did you _want _to spend all night trying to find her in this damned forest?"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "How was I supposed to know to follow your lead when you didn't tell me what your plan was!? It looked like you were just being quiet and letting her argue with me!"

"I had it under control, you don't _always _have to run your mouth Ilia!" His words came with a step forwards, letting him loom over her. She had no idea if he'd meant to do it, or if he realized just how threatening his height and strength was compared to her... but it still made her step back, unsettled as her skin rippled to black.

"I..."

Adam's anger seemed to slowly deflate at her retreat, at her body camouflaging itself as if he was a threatening predator. He slowly lifted his hands, keeping them spread as he shook his head head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be that harsh. I'm just... worried for Blake."

"I know." She replied, not quite accepting the apology as she let her skin return to normal. "I'm worried for her too. And for you."

His head rose. "What's that supposed to mean? Please don't tell me you're annoyed that she came to me instead of you when she was scared. Not when you were the one doing it to her."

A muscle in her cheek twitched. "I didn't mean Blake, though I _am _concerned about how touchy you are with her. She's three years-"

"Two and a half, a little less even."

"Whatever!" She saved an impatient hand, fear fading into concerned anger once more. "I'm worried about what you almost did in that base! You were ready to kill that guard, even after he was down."

Adam was a warrior, not a gambler, or a liar. He couldn't bluff to save his life; his back tightened and his jaw clenched at the accusation and even with his mask she knew he wasn't looking at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. He was _done_." Ilia lowered her voice. "The fight was over. He was a prisoner, not a soldier, and if Sienna hadn't interrupted you-"

"I would have scared him senseless." Adam shook his head sharply. "Not whatever _you _are thinking I was about to do."

"Adam-"

"I need to get back to Blake." He spun on a heel and stalked away from her, his posture once again radiating his brooding anger. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ilia stared at his back before lifting her hands and furiously rubbing at her face. Adam had always been a bit prickly, from the day she'd first met him, but lately it seemed like it was getting worse. Being around Blake seemed to be the only thing that could keep him mostly calm.

Once she'd been able to keep him calm as well. They'd been friends even before she'd met Blake, before she'd introduced them. But now...

_Now it's just Blake, which is both cute and unsettling... and some days... _She shook her head. Worries about whether or not she was a third wheel, a friend being pushed aside to make room for blooming romance, all of that could wait. For now, she was still slightly hungry, and it would probably be best to let everyone calm down and enjoy the rest of the night.

She waited for Adam to retrieve the promised bread and water, and only once she'd seen him head back towards Blake's tent did she start walking. She slipped between tiring but still happy workers to grab a half-loaf of bread of her own before vanishing, not wanting to disrupt the still festive evening with her worried mood and tired body.

An exhaustion that only got worse when she got back to her tent to find Trifa sitting on a fallen log just outside of it.

"Hey." The spider faunus gave her a small smile. "Sienna thought someone should check in on you... and from the way you and Taurus were just in each other's faces, I think she was right about that."

Ilia shook her head and found herself sighing yet again. "I'm fine, Trifa. That was just Adam being Adam."

The older woman rose as she walked past, slipping into her tent behind her. "Being a brooding, angry pile of righteousness that makes Blake's panties evaporate?"

"That's not funny." She shot back, setting her bread on the folding table that was her only furniture before fumbling for a candle. Not that she actually needed the light, her night vision was in the top percentile even among faunus, but that didn't mean she always felt like sitting around in the dark. "She's too young for him."

"For a month." Trifa noted as she sat down again, "Then she's fifteen. Old enough to be sent on extermination missions by Huntsman prep schools has to be old enough to make her own choices with her body. You can't protect her forever... and you know she's never going to look at you like she does Adam."

Ilia felt her freckles pinken... then shift to a sad blue once more at the blunt honesty. She lit the candle and set it aside without looking up. "I know she won't, and I'm not trying to break them up or anything like that. It's just... I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Adam isn't right for her that way."

"Spoken like the jealous woman you are."

Growling, she tore off a bit of bread and threw it at her. Trifa caught it effortlessly and popped it into her mouth before speaking again, "I really have no idea how you three are friends. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have Adam at my back in a fight than anyone else, but he's so... _Adam."_

"He just needs to calm down." She defended him. "He's not always like that."

Trifa didn't look like she believed her. "Yeah, sure. I heard him blaming you for something. What was it?"

Shaking her head, she tore off a bit more bread and then told her everything that had happened since they'd gotten back to the camp. Trifa was a good sounding board; she listened attentively and without interruption, never once looking bored. Though she did start looking a bit concerned when she got to the part where Adam denied everything about what she had seen in the mining complex.

"He hasn't... you know? Done that for real before?" Ilia asked once she'd finished. "I was exhausted, I want to think I was just seeing things. That he was just trying to make the guard piss himself or something."

Trifa pursed her lips in thought. "I've never seen him execute someone, if that's what you're asking. He's killed people in battle, sure, so have I, and so have you now. But not execution. If he had Sienna would have done something. Randomly killing low-level grunts who've surrendered doesn't do much for the freedom-fighter image."

She looked up and bit her own lip. "I'm sensing a but coming."

"But," It was Trifa's turn to sigh. "Like you said, Adam's always had a temper, and it gets pretty roused when he's fighting. Maybe you really saw what you think you saw, maybe you didn't, but I wouldn't put it past him. If Blake can't take the edge off of his anger he's going to lose control of it sooner or later. Maybe his next job will help."

Her head cocked to one side. "Huh?"

There was a definite wince and then her voice lowered, "You didn't hear this from me, but Adam's getting transferred. That old man running the Vale branch stepped down and Sienna wants someone from her inner circle to take over. Whip them back into shape."

Ilia jerked back in surprise. "Wow... Adam? Really? He's too young for that level of position! Especially with... well, everything we're talking about."

"Who else is there?" Trifa asked, "From what I heard she _wanted _Corsec to take the job, but he refused to leave Menagerie... though I don't think she's going to tell Adam he was her second choice. His ego probably couldn't handle that. But even with his temper... the position has to go to a huntsman, and most of the older ones quit the group with your parents. That or they're pretty iffy about following Sienna's orders."

"Why not one of the Vacuans? Or did none of them want to leave?"

Trifa shrugged, "I think she guessed they weren't about to move and saved them the bother of saying no. If not Corsec then she wanted a hunter from headquarters, someone who knows how she thinks and can be trusted. Right now that's me, you, Gray, Yuma, and Adam. Which means it's Adam. He's stronger than any of us, more experienced, and you can't doubt his zeal. He can be pretty charismatic in the right moments too."

"I... guess I can see that. Still..." She rubbed tiredly at her face. "Who's going with him?"

"Right now? Just Gray." A small smile split her lips, "But I'm guessing Blake will all but demand to go with him, and Sienna won't want to risk her running around complaining for months on end."

"Yeah, Blake definitely would if tonight's anything to go by." Ilia frowned. "What about me?"

Trifa winced and glanced away.

Her heart sank. "Trifa..."

The other woman took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "...Chieftain Belladonna has requested at least one huntsman return to Menagerie to help keep the city safe. He says the militia are getting overworked, and the Albain brothers agreed with his request. They want someone to split time between Grimm patrols, working with the militia, and training new volunteers in aura usage. Sienna agreed, we _need _more Huntsman level fighters and everyone knows it."

Ilia felt her skin ripple to blue while her spots flared green. "...and they want _me _to do it? I barely finished my own training!"

"It's not decided yet." Trifa said in a rush, reaching out to gently take one of her hands. "Sienna said it's down to you or Yuma. He's got more experience, and you're her favorite scout, but she doesn't know if his temperament could handle it. And... well, Ghira knows you, treats you like a daughter. That could mean a lot when it comes to supplies and finding recruits. I think she's going to decide on the drive back to base tomorrow."

Fingers wrapped around each other as she squeezed Trifa's hand tightly. "I... I just got back from Menagerie. I don't want to go back yet. Not until I've... accomplished something. Done more."

_And now I sound just like Blake... gods. I'm either a hypocrite or this is an awful time for irony... no. No. I knew what this would involve, more than Blake does. I sacrificed my innocence today on that stupid road, I did that so that other people wouldn't have to. If I don't go with, Blake's going to end up in the same spot, and Adam's temper is just going to keep getting worse.  
_

_I have to go with, if only so that Blake wouldn't turn out like Adam. Or... or like me._

She exhaled slowly and nodded. "Who's in charge of the order tomorrow?"

Trifa blinked, "Me, why?"

"I need a favor." She let out a shaky breath and gave her fingers another gentle squeeze. "I need to be in Sienna's car. If Blake and Adam are going off to Vale, they aren't going without me. "

* * *

**_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_**

__**Thanks, Kat**__


	4. The Village

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Sienna had warned them before they'd left Anima that the Vale branch wasn't doing well. Of the various kingdom-specific parts of the White Fang, the faunus in Vale had been the most committed to the message of peaceful resistance that Ghira had preached. Which made some degree of sense, given that the racism in Vale was far less overt and far less prevalent than in Atlas or Mistral.

Not to say that there wasn't any, but Vale wasn't _quite _as bad as those other two kingdoms, and the faunus there knew it. The racism was less systematic and more individual, giving most faunus a degree of hope that couldn't be found in those other kingdoms. It had made recruiting for peaceful protest fairly easy during Ghira's age. During his time in power, the Vale branch had been the largest and the best performing. Laws had been passed, tolerance enforced, the one bright spot that Ghira could point at to show that his methods worked even as things had only gotten worse elsewhere.

When Ghira had stepped down, letting Sienna and her targeted-violence approach rise to prominence, the Vale branch had begun to decline. The older, more affluent members had quit as orders to move from pickets and boycotts to vandalism and raids had begun to reach them. They had mortgages and families that they didn't want to put at risk by being caught in a white mask. Since they had made a up a great deal of the group's leadership, many of their followers had lost their direction in the aftermath. More than a few had taken stupid chances as a result, their subsequent arrests paving the way for even more faunus to drop out rather than risk following them to prison.

Now all that were left were the desperate and the homeless. Willing to fight, willing to die for the cause, but few of them had useful contacts, disposable money, or even relevant skills.

When Adam had sent word ahead of their sailing for the eastern coast of the kingdom, asking to meet with the group's leadership at a secure location... he'd gotten a message back that a single representative was all that could be spared, and that he'd meet them in a human-dominated village on the coast. To say that he'd had been left stunned and fuming would be a massive understatement.

Which was why Blake had convinced him to send Ilia instead, in the hope that she'd be more diplomatic.

_Probably for the best, _She sighed as she strolled down the village's main street, the only faunus in sight even if none of the humans around her knew that. _He wouldn't have been able to stay calm. Still... I really hate these assignments._

Memories of her last day in school were never far behind when she went incognito, which forced her to make an almost constant effort to prevent her skin from changing to a more depressed coloration. That effort, plus the painful nature of the memories in question, tended to leave her more than a little irritable. It wasn't exactly the best kind of attitude for a low-key spy to have. But... what choice did she have really? The nature of her faunus traits made her ideal for this kind of work, even if she personally would have rather been doing almost anything else.

_At least this is a fast and easy job. Get in, talk to him, get back to where we landed before some fisherman sees everyone parked on the beach._

Ilia slipped into the small cafe and had no problems finding her contact. He was entirely by himself, had two canine ears poking up through his hair, was wearing a beat up old jacket above equally worn jeans, and all of the adjacent tables were empty despite the place being fairly busy.

He looked at her through his glasses when she walked over, frowning as she took the seat across from him. She knew exactly what he was seeing; a teenage human girl wearing clothing only a little better maintained than his own. Jeans, a dark shirt, and a black jacket left open against the summer heat. Not even close to what he was probably expecting to see.

_He's not a professional. No other faunus in here means two of us meeting would draw attention that we'd rather avoid. He should have said to meet him outside of town, or at least in a better location._

"Are you lost or something?" He asked politely, his notched left ear twitching once. "I'd be happy to help but I'm waiting for someone."

"I know." She replied, willing her eyes to turn a sullen red, then a sad blue, then red again for several seconds. His own widened in surprise, then he nodded once as she quickly let them return to their natural gray. "Full moon over home."

He brought a ceramic cup to his lips, murmuring the counter-sign as he did. "Broken moon over Atlas. Well met, sister."

"Well met, brother." She leaned back in her chair. "Go ahead and ask, everyone does."

That made him smile a little, "Just the eyes?"

Ilia shook her head, using the motion to check the area around them, making sure no one had approached. "Eyes, spots, skin, hair... everything. Do you have a name I may use?"

"Pear." His smile turned a little self-deprecating. "Not the best alias I know, but it's close enough that I don't screw it up. Yours?"

"Lash." She glanced up and down him. He was nervous and jumpy, though he was doing his best to hide that by sipping his coffee frequently. The kind of person who drew people's attention by so blatantly trying _not_ to draw their attention. _Gods but you're not the kind of person they needed to send._

"You're not usually in this kind of role, are you?" She asked.

"Not even close." Pear admitted, reaching up to adjust his glasses in an unconscious manner. "Ah, where are my manners. Welcome to the Kingdom of Vale. It's better than Mistral, and it's a paradise compared to Atlas, but it's not exactly kind to us either. Things have gotten worse this past year, without us pressing them constantly a few of the anti-discrimination laws have been repealed. They say they're 'not necessary' anymore."

"Already?"

He nodded grimly. "It was a hope-killer for sure, showing us how thin all our old victories actually were. Things are a little better out here than in the western parts of the kingdom, but not much."

Ilia shrugged. "I don't think there's enough of us out here for them to be able to blame us for all of their problems."

"Hn, true." He started to say something else, then straightened and gave her a look that was probably meant to be a subtle warning... and was about as blatant as a rampaging Ursa.

She glanced over her shoulder in time to see a blond waitress walk over to their table. She might have been Ilia's age, or a little older, and filled out the blue uniform rather well. And if she noticed Ilia noticing her, she didn't seem to mind.

"Good morning ma'am!" She said, her voice a bit warmer than the usual bored-professional tones you got from a young server. "Would you like some coffee as well? Maybe just a pot for the two of you?"

"Just one cup for me, please." Ilia replied, "Sugar as well, no cream though."

The girl nodded and then turned to her contact, her tones remaining just as cheerful and improving Ilia's opinion of her. "Did you need a refill, sir?"

"I'm good, thank you ma'am." Pear smiled as well, but was careful to keep his eyes on his cup. Ilia glanced around as she walked away, partly to enjoy watching the way the waitress moved, but far more important was a man in a booth who was looking at their table with obvious disapproval in his features.

"He's been watching me since I came in." He murmured around another sip of his drink, which at least proved he had some situational awareness even if he wasn't scout material. "I think he's sweet on the waitress. I'm trying not to provoke him by looking near her more than I have to, but I don't think he likes you sitting with me either."

Her smile faded and it was a fight not to grimace. Men stepping in to 'protect' women from 'lustful faunus' wasn't uncommon. If anything it was probably one of the _most _common spark that caused beatings, fights, or worse. Usually when the faunus in question didn't do anything beside glance in the woman's direction, if that.

_Dammit_._ the longer we talk in here the more likely someone is to comment on us sitting together, or to come over to defend my honor or some stupid crap like that. Really needed to pick somewhere else._

"Let's get this done before he decides to come over, I'd rather not have my cover blown on our first day."

Pear let out a quiet snort and nodded. He kept his voice as low as possible when he began to lay it out for her. "I think you already guessed that we're not in good shape so I'll skip to the worst parts. We divided into cells like the High Leader ordered last year, but two of our cell leaders left for Vacuo and we lost contact with the groups they were managing."

Her fingers clenched slightly in frustration. "They didn't give their lists to someone else?"

He shook his head, making her swear under her breath, "They both ran groups in the city. Without them we're down to just one cell in Vale itself, one on Patch that only has four people, but we do have three larger groups in the western villages. Main base is in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, maybe three dozen there. Mostly people who are known and who don't have anywhere else to go."

Ilia pursed her lips and nodded. The numbers more or less matched what Sienna had told them to expect, though Adam wouldn't be happy about the relative lack of assets in Vale itself. "What about out here, out east?"

"Nothing." His head lowered a little, then rose as he threw back the last of his coffee and set the cup aside. "A few families near Pharos Academy that we try to help, and they send us what supplies and information they can, but not much more than that."

_Dammit. _"Is that it?"

"No. There's a kind of paramilitary group that started up last year when some of our people went... too far after the new leader took her position. Officially they're a citizen's watch who look out for criminals and alert police, but aren't vigilantes."

She could guess where this was going. "But they are."

He nodded grimly but said nothing. A second later she heard the heels clicking across the floor, and a cup of coffee was set before her. The waitress, her name-tag read 'Sable', gave them both another polite smile and reminded them that she'd be happy to bring food if they wanted any.

Ila thanked her again but declined to speak further, simply stirring sugar into her drink. The girl didn't take offense and simply departed, heading back to the more crowded section to take an order from a crowded table.

"They mostly operate out west, which is causing us problems since that's where most of our remaining people are. On a good day they just group together and rant about how we're scum and how we steal their jobs." Pear continued, "On the bad ones they get liquored up and go hunting."

Her upper lipped pulled back from her teeth, and it was a fight not to let her skin flare to angry scarlet. "I'm guessing you mean that literally."

Another nod. "So far they haven't actually killed anyone, but there's been close to a dozen beatings and least one reported rape. Does... that happen in other places too?"

"It's not unheard of." She answered, avoiding stating that what he'd just described was positively low-key compared to what some other groups did. There was at least one bandit tribe in eastern mistral that quite literally _hunted _faunus, and ripped off their ears or tails to take as trophies after. "But we can talk about how to deal with them later. For now we need a route to your... to our headquarters. We managed to get a full truck with supplies over. Dust, weapons, clothing, medicine, everything on your wish list."

"It's easy enough, just follow the roads west towards Vale." He shrugged, the notion of supplies seeming to cheer him slightly. "A lot of the old signs for Mountain Glenn are still up. Follow them to highway two, then turn southwest. Once you're in the ruins head for the subway stations. Be careful, the place is crawling with Grimm even now, but we secured a lot of the underground when we had more people. Our base is smaller these days, but it's still mostly barricaded."

Ilia repeated it back to him to ensure she had it right, "West, highway two, southwest. Base is underground and secured. We'll find it."

Pear smiled at his empty cup again. "Our new high leader... do you think she can help fix things? Is our new leader is right for Vale? I mean, I've heard of him. He's a fighter, a warrior, but... I guess I still don't know if that's what we need. Beacon, Signal, and Pharos all take faunus students. I don't want to risk them changing that even if everything else isn't... exactly great. Seeing faunus hunters saving people is one of the few things that gives us any hope these days."

"I know what you mean. I... worry sometimes too, but we're on the right path." She nodded slowly, paraphrasing the same words Sienna had given her. "It won't be easy. It will be hard work, dirty work at times. Not glorious in the moment, but our children will know that we were the heroes who gave them a better world. We won't jeopardize what you've already won, we only want to make even bigger strides forwards. I promise."

"I want to believe that." His words came as a whisper, his eyes staring at nothing for a few long seconds before he shook himself a little. "Is that everything? We're starting to draw more attention from the other customers."

Ilia gave him a slight nod and tapped a finger on the table, "Leave some lien for the coffee, and then go. I'll stay behind for a minute to make sure no one follows you. If they do, just keep walking and get out of here. I'll deal with them."

"I understand. I'll see you at work, sister." He said as he rose, pulling a few lien from a pocket and placing it next to his cup. His shoulders hunched a little as she walked past the man who'd been watching him, the far larger human following him with his eyes before sneering and returning to his breakfast.

She started to relax and lift her cup to her lips, then froze when two younger men, practically boys really, got up from a booth nearer to the door and followed Pear outside.

"Crap."

Hoping that he'd left enough cash for the drinks, she slid out of her chair and made for the door. She thought she heard the waitress call out as she pushed it open, but that mattered a lot less than making sure her contact got out of here alive. And without talking to any authority figures who didn't need to know why he was here.

It wasn't hard to spot them, the boys were snickering to one another to the left as they followed Pear down the brick covered street. He'd noticed them from the way he hunched in even more, but he wasn't panicking yet. Wasn't running away or turning to confront them. Just ignoring them and hoping his lack of reaction would make them bored.

It wouldn't. It would just inspire them to try harder... but that was also what she'd told him to do if followed. She hadn't exactly meant to say she'd save him from being bullied by a couple of fourteen year old boys, but she could hardly call herself a member of the White Fang if she didn't put a stop to it.

"Hey! Mutt!" One of them called out, "What's wrong? She wasn't into bestiality?"

Her fists clenched as the other one burst out laughing. A few other humans on the street gave the boys dark looks but otherwise did nothing... and few smothered smirks of their own.

_...definitely a good thing that Adam isn't here._

Ilia slowed down to a more natural stride a few paces behind them, disguising a check behind her by pretending to let her gaze linger on swimsuit in a shop window as she walked past. No one was following, good. It meant these two idiots were just bored and not part of some larger scheme.

Which meant she'd have more freedom in regards to how she dealt with them.

"Where you going? There a nice warm bone waiting for you at home?"

She limited her reaction to clenching her jaw. Ahead of them, Pear had reached the outskirts of the large village. Several cars were parked in a public lot just off of the road leading into town. On seeing his, the faunus accelerated to a faster clip, clearly ready to get on the road before things got worse.

Worse came when one of the two boys stooped as he walked, grabbing a loose bit of brick that had probably been broken off a nearby building by a storm or collision. From the way he brought his arm all the way back, he was either hoping to seriously hurt Pear, or he wanted to put it into the car's windshield.

Ilia's fingers snapped tightly around his wrist before he could bring his arm forwards, muscles flexing as she easily stopped his effort to throw it. "Excuse me."

"What gives!?" The boy, black hair, clean cut, but otherwise like any other early teenager, gave her his best glare. "Hey! Let go of me!"

"Drop the brick." She stated in reply, not hiding the fact that her left hand was in her pocket. A threat that the two oblivious idiots completed missed.

"Hey, hey!" The other one, brown haired and blue eyed, gave her a smile he probably thought was charming. She mostly noticed how much food he had stuck in his teeth. "We're not hurtin' anyone. Just making sure the mutt knows to leave pretty girls like you alone."

Ilia felt a muscle in her cheek twitch as the one she'd caught again tried to jerk his arm free. "Drop the brick."

The repetition didn't seem to please either of them. Black hair scowled and tugged some more, while brown hair narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to try and loom like most angry men liked to do. Of course he wasn't exactly Adam, or Gray, or... intimidating at all really. He wasn't nearly close enough to use his height against her, and she was pretty sure she had more muscle as he did.

"You're defending that animal?" Brown hair tried to make his voice into a growl and mostly just sounded like he was trying to gargle a drink in his throat. "You spreading your legs for him or something?"

In response she let her eyes shift to show her anger, both of them blinking as they turned an angry red. At the same time she drew a small bar of metal from her coat pocket. A single flick of her finger saw it begin to fold outwards, and within a moment she had a slim saber in her grip. It wasn't Lightning Lash, but her preferred weapon was far too distinctive to use unless her life was actively threatened.

So for today it was the cheap back-up... and the sight of the cold steel made both boys start sweating.

"Drop," She paused dramatically, "The damned. Brick."

It finally tumbled to the ground as the tip of her little sword came into line with his chin. Black hair's voice came out in a rushed babble. "Wh-what the fuck lady! We didn't mean anythin'!"

"Yes, you did, and you were about to do worse." Ilia stated flatly, finally letting go of him. She made a point to make a disgusted face and wipe her hand on her pants, as if she'd just touched something foul. That was enough to make both of them angry once more, brown hair stepping a little closer then flinching back when she turned the blade in his direction. "Get out of here. The both of you."

"Th-this is our town!" Brown hair must have been the brains, or what passed for them, because he again took the lead. "You don't get to tell us what to do!"

"Look at her eyes man." Black hair muttered in agreement, rubbing his wrist. "Maybe she's one of those freaks too."

Ilia flicked said eyes beyond them, her rising anger shifting them to a blazing yellow, and met Pear's eyes through the window of his car. She twitched in her chin in a slight motion that he seemed to catch because he gave her a deeper nod of thanks, then put his beat up old car into motion and pulled out of the lot.

"She's threatening us with a sword." Brown spoke, completely missing the reason she'd fallen silent. "We should call the cops on her. Maybe get a huntsman."

A shift of her hand saw the rapier collapse once more, and she gave them both a dismissive shrug. "Go for it. I could use a sparring partner."

"What?" Brown sneered, his eyes flicking over her shoulder as his grin widened. "That supposed to convince me you're a huntress or somethin'?"

"Did you miss my semblance changing my eye color as I got angry?" She flicked a hand in their direction and turned away... and nearly ran into a man in the dark brown of a Valean Outland Sheriff.

He was an older man, pale of skin but dark of eye, and he obviously took notice of her placing her weapon back into her jacket pocket from the way his own hand was resting on the holstered pistol on his belt. Despite that, his voice was calm and level when she spoke. "Evening ma'am. I don't suppose you had a good reason to be holding these two at sword point?"

"They didn't care for my choice in business associates and were about to throw a brick into his car." Ilia paused, "Assuming they weren't aiming for his head, but I didn't really care enough to ask."

The man let out a low grunt, frowning at her, then at the two boys behind her. "Normally I wouldn't believe a stranger who says she's a huntress, but we've had more than a few calls about these two in the past. You mind showing me some ID before I let you on your way?"

"She threatened to kill us!" Black hair shouted, teenage outrage making his voice crack. "And she's probably one of those fur covered freaks! You gotta arrest her!"

Ilia felt a muscle in her cheek twitch as her cooling eyes once again began to move through a sullen red and back to an angry yellow. "I also didn't care for the racial insults they were giving him."

"It's a free nation." The officer shook his head, "Boys can say what they want... but it takes a special kind of stupid to piss off a huntress by insulting her friend. Guessing your eyes are part of your semblance, and that they wouldn't like what would happen if they kept getting brighter?"

It was almost sad how easy it was to pretend to be human, just by letting their own expectations work against them. "Yes, they are, and no, they wouldn't."

He let out another grunt. "You two are coming with me, maybe this time your parents will actually do something. You staying in town, ma'am?"

She shook her head, "I only met him here as a way-point from Mistral. I have a protection contract down south, then I'm off to Vale."

"Well I suppose I don't have to ask you to call us the next time instead of handling it yourself, but all the same... if you're ever back in Ansel, try to remember." His lips pressed into a thin line, "Huntsman around here prefer to let us handle things. Easier on everyone that way. Consider this your warning, and we'll be keeping an eye on you if you come back to town."

"I'll do my best to remember." Ilia replied dryly, tipping her head to him once before turning away. Both of the teens gave her sullen, angry glares as she walked past them.

No one followed her as she left the little coastal town, back to where the others were waiting for her report.

* * *

**_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_**

__**Thanks, Kat**__


	5. The Mission

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Lightning Lash tore into the juvenile Beowulf, black sludge flowing as its howl trailed off into an empty gurgle. The Grimm wavered, pure hatred keeping it upright for a few seconds, then collapsed across the ruined street.

Ilia dodged to her left as another one of the beasts leaped over the corpse of its pack-mate, cracking her weapon in a smooth motion as she did. The thin blade of metal took it in the snout, ripping through the immature creature's thin skin. Its already dissolving body slammed into the space she'd just occupied, leaving her free to scan the decrepit city for another target.

There weren't any, Blake's own weapons had just finished cutting through the last of the pack, the only one old enough to have formed armor. Not that the protection had helped it, the younger woman was unhurt as she backed off from the slowly melting body, placing her back against Ilia's while they both did a final check of the area.

Apart from a supermarket whose front wall was missing, thanks to the now dead Grimm who had been lurking inside, there was nothing in sight beyond ruins.

"Well, this is an awful place for a camp." Ilia said, once she was sure they were clear.

Blake made a low sound in her throat that wasn't quite a laugh. "I don't think this is the right time for jokes."

"I was being entirely serious." She shook her head and relaxed, getting a better look at the area around them.

Mountain Glenn had been a planned city, built just on the far side of the mountain range that protected Vale. It was basically a giant concrete box, elevated on a small plateau, with broken walls giving it the appearance of a castle that had long ago fallen to a siege. While it was hardly the first ruined city that she'd seen, southern Anima was littered with the ruined civilizations that the Mistral Emperors had left in their wake, there was something... haunting about Mountain Glenn. Something that the other ruins had lacked.

_It has to be the Grimm. Those other cities were mostly empty. This place... I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that it looks so modern..._

"At least we won't have to worry about humans stumbling across us." Blake tried. "No civilians, no huntsmen..."

Ilia sighed, "Blake, please don't try to be optimistic. You're horrible at it."

The young woman's feline ears flattened, "It could be worse. If we can clear the rail lines we'll have easy access into and out of the city. And it's easily defensible underground now that we're here and closing the entrances that don't need to be open."

"Now you're just repeating Adam." She said as she turned away, waving towards the nearest entrance to the city's subway system. "I get it, and I know there's no chance we'll get hit by a random bandit attack or something, but there's... just something about this place."

Blake frowned as she caught up to her, both of them starting down the old stairwell. "What to do you mean? It's just another empty ruin filled with Grimm. Our headquarters in Mistral is built out of one, it's nothing new."

"This one's different." Ilia shook her head, feeling her spots flicker between a few muted colors before settling on a dull gray. "There's something... _off. _This place just feels wrong, I guess. I can't put my finger on it."

There was a quiet hum before Blake spoke again, "It feels normal to me, or as normal as a place like this can. It's not part of your semblance is it?"

Ilia pursed her lips in consideration. Her semblance was one of the less defined ones that she'd ever heard about, even by the often random nature of semblances. Sienna thought she had some ability to warp the minds of people and beings around her, making her fade out of their thoughts unless something startled them into noticing her. Adam was equally convinced that all it did was amplify her natural faunus trait, letting her truly blend in with a background so long as it was dark. For his part, Ghira had thought of it as being as changeable as her skin and spots. However she needed to vanish, it would do its best to aid her in some kind of combination of effects.

Personally Ilia thought that Ghira was probably the closest, though it definitely had limits that made it seem like both Sienna and Adam also had a pretty good feel for it.

_I suppose it's possible. If my semblance has to connect to the area around me in order to hide me..._

"Doors open both ways." She muttered under her breath, fighting off a shudder. The idea of being connected to the wasteland around her was a fairly horrifying one. _Memo, don't use my semblance here anymore if I can absolutely help it._

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Ilia shook her head as they reached the station proper, a half-dozen men and women busy at work repairing an old wall that had obviously once sealed this entire area off from the surface. One of many last-ditch efforts by the people who'd once lived here that had come to nothing in the end.

She raised her voice as several workers glanced their way, "Grimm are dealt with, but with how many packs are wandering around I can't say how long we'll be clear for."

"Thank you sister." The evident leader was a massive man who she'd have thought was a bear faunus if not for the serrated teeth that filled his mouth. "Gods above but you don't know how good it is to have you here."

Blake smiled and gave him a little bow, "It's our pleasure and our duty, brother. How long will you need to fix this?"

"Few more hours." He said, waving a broad hand around at the wreckage, "No shortage of materials, just a matter of getting it nice and secure. Should hold until we get enough concrete to just turn the whole thing into a giant plug, so long as an Elder Grimm doesn't test it."

Her scouting partner nodded and glanced towards her, "Would you mind reporting to Adam? I think one of us should stay here to make sure nothing else shows up."

Ilia frowned. The idea made sense, and she had actually been about to propose that, but she'd entirely expected Blake to want to be the one to report to Adam.

Then again, she'd made it a point to ensure the two of them hadn't had any chances to get 'closer' during the trip from Mistral. Blake had clearly noticed it, giving her somewhat annoyed looks when she'd taken her meals with the both of them whenever possible. She was probably trying to mollify her in the hopes of freeing up time for her and Adam to be alone later.

Which may or may not end up resulting in anything. Adam had been far too busy with his new position to react to either Blake's clear interest in progressing their relationship, or Ilia's efforts to slow that down a bit, even if she was sure he was aware of both. And yes, Trifa had a point that Blake was old enough to fight and die, which meant she was old enough to make her own relationship decisions. And yes, Ilia knew full well that Blake would never look at her like she did at Adam.

But there was just something about the two of them together that struck her as... _wrong_. Like this damned city.

"That sounds like an excellent idea." The workman grinned, the expression rather ferocious given his teeth. "Never let it be said that the Belladonna family failed to protect their fellow faunus."

Blake blushed and stammered, "I-I'm just doing my job as a huntress of the White Fang."

Ilia snorted, "You really need to learn how to take praise better. Keep your scroll on and send an alert if anything comes this way."

"I know, I know." There was a quick nod as she tried and failed to ignore the chuckles and smiles of the workers. "Tell Adam I'll be back in time for dinner, and that I can make it for him. Wait! I meant-"

The smirks upgraded to full laughter along with a few whistles and cheers that made Blake's face heat up and her ears flatten. Her expression shifted from embarrassment to betrayed when she turned back to Ilia and found her spots bright orange while she strangled down her own laughter.

Her disapproval of the relationship notwithstanding, Blake was far too easy to tease.

_Especially when she's the one putting her own foot in her mouth._

"I'll be sure to tell him." Ilia smiled, patting her on the shoulder and pitching her voice so everyone could hear her. "Try not to get lost thinking about _dinner._"

"Ilia!" The protest was buried under a new avalanche of howling laughter, the work entirely suspended as their brothers and sister cackled and hollered.

Still grinning, she leaned and gave Blake a quick hug, using the gesture to let her speak quietly into her ear. "Let them laugh and tease you. So long as we can do that, we're not monsters."

Blake let out a sound somewhere between a whine and a groan before slumping and hugging her back. "You need a girlfriend so I can get back at you."

"If I ever find one you'll be the last to know." Ilia smirked as they pulled apart, tossing a hand in negligent wave as she turned away. "Don't have too much fun!"

She was fairly sure Blake grumbled and threw some complaints at her back, but she couldn't really hear her over the work leader shouting good naturedly for his men to get back to work. The sounds of rubble being moved and piled together echoed as she walked down the old rail lines, following them towards the heart of the city's underground.

The sunken area beneath Mountain Glenn wasn't in any better shape than the ruins above it. She had no real idea if the place had actually been intended as a long term home, or if it had just been a kind of refugee camp meant to temporarily hold people after the fall of the surface. In the end it didn't really matter. All that remained were bones, crumbling buildings, and the Grimm that had ended Vale's attempt at expansion.

Thankfully the members of the White Fang who'd originally chosen the place as a base had sealed up most of the old tunnels and underground choke-points, ensuring that the only ways the Grimm could get to them were through the old subway and sewer lines... but that still left too many ways to get in.

They'd spent nearly two weeks doing nothing but extermination missions, clearing out as many of the creatures as possible so that the weak-points in their defenses could be closed; those few entrances left open fully fortified. Ilia had nearly lost track of the days until they'd finally gotten ahead of the problem, finally able to do something besides catch quick naps and rushed meals before running out to deal with yet another Grimm pack.

_But we're down to the dregs now. Only two ways in, covered by the auto-turrets we brought with, and the last subway entrances are getting closed today. _Ilia stretched and groaned as she entered the main cavern, the smell of food making her stomach rumble. _Soon we'll be able to actually get to work. Our real work._

With most of the able-bodied members of the White Fang busy working on the last two unwanted entrances, most of the people still present at their main camp were the infirm. A dozen wounded or crippled faunus worked studiously to prepare food and fix up the mostly intact tenement they were using as a living quarters. Some had been wounded by the Grimm, others carried scars caused by human hands. Several smiled on seeing her and waved, and Ilia did the same in return as she headed towards the broad tent that had been setup near a mostly intact train engine.

"Leader Adam," She raised her voice as she approached, "Huntress Amitola reporting."

"Come in!"

Ilia ducked through the cloth entrance, wrapping one hand around a fist in salute. Adam was seated at a small table, his mask off for once, his blue eye focused on a report in front of him. He glanced up and smiled, waving vaguely towards the chair opposite him, "Relax Ilia, we're not in front of anyone else."

"Better to stay in the habit," She replied, stepping forwards and settling herself down. "We cleared fifth street, the team thinks they'll have that station barricaded in a few hours. Blake's staying with them as as a guard against more Grimm."

Adam nodded, pleased. "Good. About time we finished the grunt work."

"Don't think you'll find anyone arguing with you, least of all me." She agreed before smiling a little, "Blake says she'll be back for dinner, that she wants to cook for you, and I'm fairly certain I wasn't invited."

He blinked once, then let out an amused breath and shook his head. "If she's hoping for a romantic dinner from her books she's going to be awfully disappointed. All we have to eat are old instant meals with stale beer to wash them down."

"I think she's hoping for what comes after the dinner in her books."

Adam's pale skin reddened slightly, in embarrassment or anger, she couldn't tell. "...I'd rather not discuss that kind of thing with you."

Ilia spread her hands apart, "I'm just saying. She's decided you're the one for her and nothing I've said has changed her mind."

"And _why _have you try to change her mind?" He asked, definite anger coloring his voice. "You still convinced I'm going to hurt her?"

"Her age, the fact that you're her mentor, the fact that you're her superior officer," She ticked off the first three points on her fingers, then hit him below the belt, "And the fact that if it does happen, she damn well deserves her first time to be somewhere besides a Grimm infested ruin."

Adam opened his mouth, then closed it with an irritated sound. "I can argue all but the last. Damn you."

Ilia smiled a little and leaned back in her chair. "I know."

"Are you going to tell me that if I hurt her, you'll kill me? Thought you'd finally accepted that she's straight."

"I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to." She shook her head, electing to ignore the second comment. "You hurt her and I'll tell Ghira. _He'll _rip your arms off and beat you to death with them."

There was a loud snort as he shook his own head, good humor slowly restoring itself. "Fine, fine. I promise I won't give in to Blake's efforts to seduce me while we're living in this ruin if you stop trying to interfere with our personal choices."

"Deal." Ilia flicked her eyes down to the report he'd been reading, "News?"

He nodded slightly, leaning back in his seat and tapping a finger against the paper. What little cheer had been in his voice faded as quickly as it had come. "That vigilante group our contact with the Vale cell mentioned? They went after a faunus family early last month. Farmers who the humans claimed had bought weapons to give to us. They killed the husband, beat the wife and their children before a huntsman intervened. Three of the group were arrested."

Her jaw clenched. "Trial?"

"All three were released on bail, money was raised by an anti-faunus group in the city." His single healthy eye narrowed, "Our cell leader in that village says they also planted some of their own guns in the house they attacked, and the local authorities are going along with it. They got high priced lawyers on top of that, and they're expected to be acquitted of murder. Newspaper has them being slapped with community service for vigilantism as the most likely outcome."

Ilia felt her spots blaze into an angry red, "Bastards. What's the plan?"

"There's more before I get to that." Adam's said flatly, his hand sending the paper fluttering off the table to reveal another beneath it. "_This_ is a report from Vale itself, sent by Pear or Perry or whatever his name is. There's a charity gala being thrown by the investors of the Vale branch of the SDC. None of the Schnees will be present, unfortunately, but Sienna wants us to make statement regardless. Something to make it clear that Vale is not beyond our reach."

"Guessing some of them were the ones behind the lawyers and bail money?" When he nodded, she grimaced and shook her head once. "The cell there can't handle a high security event like that, not if they're anything like Pear. They'd have to launch a direct attack and that would be messy."

"Agreed." He let out an angry breath before continuing, "Worse, we also need to maintain a secure presence here. We just put two weeks of effort into fixing this place's short-comings, I'm not about to see that work wasted. The majority of our team will be remaining here to keep up that effort, which means minimal support for our actions."

Ilia got a sinking feeling in her gut. "You want to split up and hit both of them?"

"Want to? No." Adam tapped the paper once, "If Sienna hadn't ordered it I wouldn't be bothering with Vale itself yet. We'd all be heading west. I'd rather build our strength out here, where we can be mobile... but she did, and so we must obey the High Leader."

She licked her lips once, nodding in agreement. "All right. Who is going where?"

"Gray is staying here. There's no chance he'd get into the city, and there aren't many Grimm who could stand against him. He'll keep the fires warm." Adam fixed her with a steady gaze. "I can't get into the city either, so I'm heading west. You can guess who is going into Vale."

"...dammit." Her jaw clenched. "Dammit. You know I don't like those assignments."

"You volunteered to come with." He countered, "You knew exactly what kind of operations you're best at, and how exactly I'd end up using you. This is tailor-made for your skill-set Ilia, so stop protesting for the sake of protesting."

She exhaled tightly, "Do I get Blake as back-up at least?"

Adam shook his head, as she could have guessed. "I want to get that family out of there, along with any other faunus who might join us thanks to what's happening in that village. She may not be a diplomat but she's earnest, and her name brings power to those who actually know it. I need her even before we get to the details of your assignment, details Blake is not to know about under _any _circumstances."

Her stomach fell slightly. "...I'm guessing that means you don't want me to vandalize and rob the place."

"I want you to do that," He countered, his expression flat. "Once you've killed Alabaster Winchester."

_Oh gods._

"...who is he?" She asked quietly, forcing her spots and skin to remain natural as she played for time.

"Descended from Valean nobility, was just barely old enough to fight in the Faunus Wars." Adam provided. "Owns Winchester Arms, provides weapons to the SDC. Is a noted opponent of faunus rights, has lobbied against all of the anti-discrimination laws, and spends a great deal of his wealth advocating for the forced resettlement of all faunus to Menagerie."

Ilia took a shallow breath and nodded, "Business practices?"

"He refuses to hire faunus to begin with, and he's fought off two lawsuits on the matter." His jaw clenched for a moment, "According to the news articles our people sent me, he's the one who paid for the lawyers who got the vigilantes such light sentences. I only have what's being reported, but he's not a well loved figure among his own kind."

"...the racism?"

"The _blatant _racism." He corrected her. "Valeans are fine with discriminating and exploiting us, but they don't like it being out in the open. I believed at least one article referred to him as a 'classless relic of a darker time'."

That didn't help as much as it probably should have, and she still needed to focus on her breathing. "Does this come from Sienna? The kill order, I mean."

Adam nodded once. "The SDC reacted to last month's raids by cutting worker pay further in order to pay for better security, or so they claim. Everyone knows it's a crack-down. Sienna is personally leading a team against a board member who lives in Argus, she wants this Winchester removed as well to make it clear that no one related to the Schnee's is safe so long as they exploit us."

Ilia bowed her head and nodded once. _...this is... part of what Ghira would have never done. What Sienna knows has to be done. What I know has to be done. Men like him... how many lives have his weapons ended? How many faunus abusers are free because of his money?_

"All right." The words came out as a whisper. "How... how overt?"

"However it has to be done. Get in, remove him, get out." He stated. "If it has to be covert to ensure you can escape, then we'll simply claim credit in the aftermath."

"All right." She repeated quietly.

Adam shook his head, looking almost disappointed in her. "You know it has to be done. He's not some innocent employee working for his paycheck. He's a blatant racist supporting an evil agenda. The kind of human scum that can't be allowed to keep hurting the faunus. If it was politically acceptable he'd be advocating for worse than emigration and you know it."

"I know, I know." One of her hands rose to rub at her forehead. "Just... need a minute. I didn't think..."

"You can do this, Ilia. You're one of our best." He said firmly. "It will be just like our first mission in Mistral, when we hit that councilman's party. Just with one additional objective."

A very, very, _very_ noticeable extra objective.

"Yeah..." She closed her eyes and tried to force her brain to think properly. Think beyond her moral qualms, about the practicality of it. "Still, Adam... even without going after this Winchester, this is different. We _knew _Mistral but I've never even been to Vale. I don't know the layout of the city, wherever the gala is being held, or anything like that. Do I at least have some time?"

"It's at the Winchester estate, and in four weeks."

_That's... barely enough time, maybe. Probably not. Could be worse, I guess. _"I'll... I'll have to leave for Vale soonest then."

"Pear will be out to pick you up first thing in the morning. He'll have whatever details the locals can give you beyond what Sienna sent." Adam provided, "You still have your Mistral alias? Good. I'll give you as much of our lien as we can spare so you can stay in a huntsman's hotel, do your best to play the part. Even after the gala I want you to stay in Vale for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and try and get things back on track."

Ilia frowned, too drained to offer more than a token protest. "You want me to try and get the other two cells put back together?"

He waved a hand, "Yes and no. We need recruits but we also need lien. I want you to to go full burglar against everyone and anyone invited to that gala after it's over. Steal everything you can and fence it. Keep half of what you steal, give the rest to whatever faunus charity groups you can find and make it clear it's from us."

Which could draw back in the people who had left, as well building their war chest and reputation at the same time.

"I'll be sure to leave masks to make it clear we're the ones breaking and entering." She replied, her brain all too eager to think about the less morally questionable mission. "Maybe leave our sigil if they try and cover it up. You want all of the recruits to stay in Vale?"

"No." He shook his head, "Put whoever seems competent in charge and leave them with the ones not suited for combat. Let them pretend the old ways work, do charities, whatever they want so long as they bring in more recruits. Anyone who wants to actually fight should be sent here as soon as possible to begin proper training."

She nodded once. "I'll do my best. I'm guessing I should return once things seem stable?"

Adam gave her a sharp nod of his own, "Or when I recall you."

_So... an assassination followed by a few months of playing cat burglar. Not what I thought I'd be doing at all... dammit. He's right... I should have known better. But this is... what I signed up for. Sacrificing my soul so other people didn't have to._

_ So that faunus could live without fear._

Ilia slowly stood and gave him another salute. "It will be done, Leader Taurus. What will you all be doing while I'm running around terrorizing old humans?"

"Terrorizing corporate ones." He replied, "There's several dust mines north of us. Two are SDC, one is a local company that's not all that different. Once Blake and I return, I'll lead attacks against them, shut them down, and liberate everyone we can. By the time that's done with you should have things well in hand, and we can regroup and choose our next targets."

Ilia smiled faintly, trying to recover some of the earlier levity. "Sounds something like a plan. I'll try not get arrested if you two try to avoid getting killed."

He snorted and smiled, clearly not nearly as affected by their conversation as she was. "Don't give me orders... and I'll look after Blake. For now, go check on Gray, I'll copy everything Sienna sent and have it ready when you get back."

"Understood. For the faunus."

"For the faunus."

* * *

_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

_**Thanks, Kat**_


	6. The Assassination

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Ilia nearly fell four stories when the earpiece abruptly began to vibrate, a man all but shouting into her ear, "_Amitola? Are you there?"_

"Code names!" She hissed back, focusing more on making sure her grip on the balcony's edge was secure than on being polite. "And lower your voice dammit!"

"_Sorry." _Perry, who really needed a better alias than 'Pear', quieted somewhat has he resumed speaking. "_Uh, we're in position ma'am. Lash, I mean. Sorry. Uh, security only did one check of the upper floors of the garage, now they're mostly staying on the ground level and watching the ways in. We can shoot up the cars whenever you give the signal, and we've got our escape route planned."_

She felt her teeth grind as she cautiously hauled herself up, checking to make sure there weren't any lights on this particular floor. Thankfully the sliding glass doors were dark on the other side, which let her heave her body up and over the half-wall. She landed on the concrete floor of the balcony, staying in a crouch as she caught her breath. "Fine, good job. Next time just stick to telling me you're ready."

"_I...uh, yes. Understood. We're ready."_

"Good. Stay in position until I give the word." A tap against the earpiece changed the channel before he could say anything in reply, "Driver, we're nearly set. Status of the party guests?"

Berg Tukson was easily the most competent member of the city's White Fang membership, and she'd chosen him as the get-away driver for precisely that reason. He was also the one with most qualms about what they were doing, or at least he was the one being the most obvious about his misgivings. Not because he didn't think Winchester didn't deserve it, but because he feared that the backlash would do more harm to the faunus.

Which she'd admit to worrying about as well, so she couldn't really throw stones.

"_Good news, everyone on the list has arrived." _He replied calmly, "_Bad news, Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon showed up after all."_

Ilia swore under her breath, evidently not quietly enough because he let out a grim chuckle. "_Yeah. Do we abort?"_

She hesitated, thinking furiously.

Four weeks hadn't been nearly enough to establish a proper cover identity, especially not one noteworthy enough to be invited to something as high-end as the 'VNN Firefighter's Support Gala'. Not when a fifteen thousand lien donation to said firefighters was a requirement for entry. Nor was it enough time to try and take the place of one of the serving staff. Winchester had hired extremely high level caterers who weren't about a bring in a random huntress. And they would definitely know who should and shouldn't be present, so trying to hit one over the head and replace them was out as well.

Which left the old White Fang standby; pairing a diversion with a stealth infiltration.

Perry and his team of relative amateurs were lurking in the nearby parking garage that was being used to hold the limousines and luxury cars of the rich and famous. Vandalizing and-or destroying the high priced vehicles was a fairly small, fairly petty bit of violence that would still send a message. And, more importantly, it would draw attention. Hopefully pulling most of the security staff away or at least distracting them long enough for her to get to her target and let her do some property damage of her own.

But getting to her target would be a lot harder if there was a huntsman of Ozpin's caliber present. He wasn't even supposed to be here; there'd been an opinion piece in the news suggesting it was a token courtesy to invite him to practically every single event in the city, and that he'd never shown up to the prior years' events. They hadn't even bothered planning on what she would do if he or anyone else of his level showed up.

_...shit. Maybe we'll get lucky and the diversion will draw him away._

"We proceed." She exhaled, "The High Leader herself ordered this mission. I'll handle it."

Tukson sounded extremely dubious. "_...all right, if you say so Lash. Driver is ready."_

"Check." Ilia tapped her ear once more, shutting the device off. Then she took a few critical moments to double-check everything. Her mask was secure, her hair was tied into a tight braid near her neck, Lightning Lash was loaded and ready, and she had eight extra dust vials plus three grenades attached to her belt. She also had a knife in each boot, just in case, and a silenced pistol holstered on her left thigh. The last would hopefully be the means by which she accomplished her mission, everything else was just in case she had to things the hard way.

The very, very, _very _hard way if the Headmaster of Beacon was present.

_All right... no more delays. Time to fight for the faunus._

Licking her lips, she switched back to Perry's channel and murmured, "This is Lash. Go."

"_Going." _Perry replied, this time avoiding most of the extra dialogue. An amateur maybe, but he wasn't an idiot, and he'd seemed to pick things up quickly these past few weeks. "_For the faunus."_

"For the faunus." She murmured before closing the line.

Part one in motion, she slid over to the door and checked it. Locked, fairly surprising consider they were on the fourth floor, less surprising given that Winchester probably had plenty of enemies beyond the White Fang. More fortunate was the fact that the door was as old as the house; its lock was physical rather than electronic. Still, she wasn't about to force it just yet, not until its opening might go unnoticed. So instead she fell back to the balcony's half-wall and waited.

The security teams must have been on alert because it didn't take them long to realize that their charges were being attacked. Distant shouting and crashing was followed by muted gunfire, which in turn drew panicked shouts and screams from the various hangers-on hoping to catch a glimpse of a celebrity or two. Their cries drew more security types out of the mansion and into the streets, letting her watch from her vantage point as lights began to flash.

Her balcony wasn't a corner one, and she couldn't see much of the street even if she leaned around the wall. She could tell there was movement, but couldn't get a good enough view to let her know if Ozpin or even her target had gone racing out to investigate.

_Hopefully yes to the Headmaster, hopefully no to the racist._

Turning back to the door, she pulled one of the dust canisters from her belt and eyed the handle. Using raw dust really wasn't her strength, but she knew the basics. And for this, that should be enough.

A very slight spray of purple mist combined with a gentle of push of her aura began the process. The gravity dust crystallized at once, something vaguely like a ball of shadow appearing for a few seconds as it pulled everything nearby towards it. Everything included the old lever-style lock on the side of the door, which twisted slowly upwards before clicking once.

Ilia let out a shaky breath and quickly pulled her aura back in, glancing nervously as the glass. It must have been very high end because it hadn't cracked, or even warped... which meant any alarms tied to the glass's integrity hadn't gone off.

_And now we see if they're so paranoid their security is running on a fourth floor balcony doorway._

Her fingers lightly wrapped around the handle and pulled, the glass door sliding a few inches before she froze and listened.

Nothing.

Exhaling, she drew her semblance in around herself and pulled harder, opening it just enough to let her squeeze in. A gentle push closed it behind her. The darkness inside didn't bother her, save for the general lack of color, and a glance around revealed a large but fairly plain bedroom. There was a distinct lack of any personal touches, meaning it was probably intended as a guest room. Not a place she'd be likely to ambush her target from.

It was a few paces to the door, which opened to reveal an equally dark hallway. Not hesitating for more than a moment, she set out and began prowling through the home's top floor, letting her semblance drop to conserve aura in the absence of guards or visible security cameras.

Another guest bedroom, one that looked like it belonged to a family member, and then an over-sized bathroom later, she found a stairwell. Strictly speaking it probably would have been smarter to find the master bedroom and lurk there until after the gala, but that might also involve the man's wife and she had no idea how culpable the woman was in her husband's activities. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary she would assume 'not very' and try not to commit a double-murder.

So down the stairs she went, moving slowly and cautiously.

The third floor brought lighting and the general hum of distant conversation, but no immediate people. Ilia slowed her pace all the same, keeping a firm grip on her weapon with one hand while the other lingered near her dust vials and grenades.

For once, luck was on her side. While the first door she checked proved to be a storage closet, the second opened to a very well appointed study. A broad oak desk was the centerpiece, while old flags on freestanding poles, a liquor cabinet, a grand fireplace, war paintings, and ornamental weapons provided the kind of ambiance that rich old men seemed to love. Especially those who fancied themselves warriors.

_In other words, it's perfect_.

Quickly shutting the door behind her, she strode over the desk and started yanking open drawers. Actual paperwork filled most of them, which was unfortunate since she had nothing to carry it out with. However the central drawer slid open to reveal access to the table's computer system, along with a pair of detachable drives. Those she pulled free and pocketed before trying the desk itself.

"Dammit." She muttered when a cheerful display requested a password.

Ilia didn't even bother trying further. Her hacking abilities were more or less limited to picking up the computer and handing it to someone who actually knew what they were doing. Since that wasn't an option here, she simply shut it down and started back towards the door. Her hand was just about to touch the handle when raised voices and the hard sounds of boots stomping across hardwood began to draw closer.

Drawing on her semblance she quickly retreated behind one of the Valean flags, grabbing the pole it was mounted on and pulling it a step back to give her a shadowed corner to linger in. Her skin rippled to charcoal grey as her hair darkened to black, and she forced herself to remain calm as she waited.

Not more than a minute later the door all but slammed open to let three men stride in.

"Outrageous!" An absolute bear of a human in a dark suit, close cropped red hair streaked with gray, led the procession. His voice was as deep as his chest would indicate, and he was clearly the source of the angry shouting. "Those animals continue to prove themselves to be traitors and yet all I hear is you defending them!"

_Alabastor Winchester._

"I don't care for your using of that word." The next man was far slimmer, and older, with an almost wild shock of gray hair cut in no real style. His suit was more professional than ornamental, and a cane lightly tapped the ground with each step. "The faunus have every reason to hate you given your actions and attitude. One could even say tonight's events were predictable."

_Fuck. _Ilia swallowed and will herself to think silent thoughts lest one of the most powerful huntsmen in Vale notice her.

"Mother did warn you, father." The third man was more of a boy. A teenager who looked ill at ease in his own suit, but whose physical similarities to the lord of the house made their relationship clear. "She told you to bring in more security."

"I brought in the Headmaster of Beacon himself, who apparently can't recognize dangerous subversives even after they set his car on fire and shoot mine to pieces!" Winchester snapped back, "And I told you to remain at the party, Cardin."

The boy's expression turned defensive. "You also said I needed to start taking my training seriously! Sitting on a meeting between you and the Headmaster seemed like a good way to start!"

Ozpin smiled, "The boy isn't wrong, Alabastor."

Teeth ground together before he replied, "I meant _combat training, _Cardin. I refuse to see you get punted around Signal's training rings by that blonde barbarian again. It was bad enough when the Bronzewing's were taunting me over your failures, now I have to listen to that drunken oaf pretending to teach you mock me... we'll deal with that later. For tonight get down to your mother and tell her to make sure our guests know I'm handling the situation."

Cardin Winchester glared at his father, then turned and stomped out without a word. Ozpin watched him go while Lord Winchester yanked open his liquor cabinet, chose a bottle, and poured himself a glass. He took a fortifying sip, nodded once, then walked to his desk and settled down without offering his guest any courtesy.

For her part, Ilia narrowed her eyes to slits and focused on taking slow breaths as her semblance continued to slowly eat at her aura.

"You hardly need me to call insurance agencies and berate your choice of security staff." The Headmaster noted when the silence dragged on for more than a minute. He evidently didn't feel like sitting, instead simply leaning on his cane as he spoke. "So I can only presume that this is another of your misguided attempts to change my enrollment standards."

"Misguided!?" Winchester practically roared the word, his anger coming right back. "Those beasts killed my father, my mother, and even now they destroy lives! They're terrorists at best and enemies of the state at worst, they should all be rounded up and-"

"That is enough!" Here she'd though Winchester's voice was loud, Ozpin's own reply nearly made her clap her hands over her ears.

"Enough." He repeated more quietly, thumping his cane once as he seemed to shake and gather himself. "I tolerated your prior phrasing because this is your _home_, and I your guest, but no more. Your parents died in _war_. A war they both _opposed _as you well know. Were your father still alive he would have-"

"He isn't." Winchester spat in reply. "It doesn't matter what he might have done because some dog eared bastard killed him in his sleep! The same kind of person you seem to love teaching how to be even better killers. Mark my words there will be another war from those ungrateful little creatures, and _you _are giving them all the help they need to prepare."

"Beacon admits all who wish to learn." Ozpin said, his voice as flat and cold as a sheet of ice. "That will not change."

Winchester's face twisted in anger, but he somehow avoided shouting further. "Fine. You'll regret it, I swear it... and my son will never study under you, nor will you ever see a single lien in support from me or those who see sense in this city."

"Cardin will have his own choice to make, when he is old enough." The Headmaster turned and began walking for the door. "And you will find our finances quite secure. Perhaps you should have bothered to check what Beacon's resources are before attempting to threaten me with cancelling your donation. And no, you don't need to bother. I'll be refusing any of your 'aid' regardless."

That evidently served as the of the conservation, because he turned and strode out without a farewell. Winchester stewed in furious silence, his chest heaving with angry breaths as he glared at the closing door, while Ilia lurked and felt somewhat better about Vale than she had just a few minutes prior.

"Animal loving idiot." Winchester muttered to himself, throwing back the rest of his liquor. "He'll regret it. I know it."

Ilia watched from her place in the corner as he irritably started up his desk's various screens and quickly typed out some kind of number. A moment later he was again shouting, this time at some kind of insurance representative. Keeping her breathing steady, she settled Lightning Lash onto her hip and then drew the small pistol as slowly as she could. Her semblance and Winchester's general distraction worked together to keep her hidden, letting her make sure the silencer was secure before she disengaged the safety.

The argument had been enough to quiet most of the uncertainty she'd felt over killing in cold blood, but as her fingers tightened around the weapon's grip she felt her heart sink a little in her chest. The man was a racist asshole of the first order, that much was certainly true. He'd done harm to the faunus across Vale for his entire life. He didn't deserve mercy.

But that didn't change the fact that this wasn't a fight. She wasn't defending herself in the heat of battle.

She was about to murder someone.

_Wait..._

"You'll have an agent at my address within the next hour or there will be hell to pay!"

_Wait_...

"You damned well better!" A finger slammed down to end the call before a fist slammed angrily onto the desk. "Useless idiots, all of them!"

_Now. _Ilia exhaled, raised her pistol, and then pulled the trigger.

The sudden, sharp motion in an otherwise still room must have been too much for her semblance because he started to turn in her direction. His angry expression shifted into puzzlement as he tried to work out what he'd just seen... but he didn't get the chance. It wasn't enough of a warning to engage his aura, and by the time he'd seen the suppressed flash of her gun the bullet had already impacted his left eye.

His head snapped back as red sprayed over the painting of a battlefield behind him, his body slumping in the chair. Ilia swallowed and stayed very still, listening furiously. The sound of a silenced gun was a lot louder than what most people assumed from movies, but it wasn't that much worse than a book slamming against a shelf.

Or a broad fist hitting a desk.

After nearly a minute there was no sound of rushing feet or alarms, and she cautiously stepped out and approached the body. The smell was already growing, making her stomach churn as she shakily walked around the desk to see that the back half of his head was practically gone. Things she'd really rather not have seen were entirely visible, and she quickly averted her eyes.

Taking another moment, she shuddered once and then quickly pulled a small bundle of cloth from one of her pockets. The flag of the White Fang unfolded before she let it fall over the ruined features, hiding everything from view even as it proclaimed just who had ended the man's life.

"You deserved this." She muttered as the pistol returned to its holster. "You deserved this, for everything you did."

Blood dripping onto the wooden floor was the only reply he gave.

Sucking in a shaky breath, and nearly throwing up from the smell, she quickly backed away and turned for the door. It opened into an empty hallway, and she wasted little time in heading for the stairs that would take her back up. Any thought of doing more damage was well and truly out of her mind. Her only focus was on getting out of this damned building as soon as possible... property damage could wait until her hands weren't shaking.

She took the stairs two at a time, and only realized that the fourth floor's hallway lights were on when she'd already begun moving along it.

"Alabastor?" A woman's voice called from ahead, making her all but slide to a stop as a tall woman with dark hair walked around a corner, a blue dress half covered by a fur lined coat. "I already spoke to our guests, I'm changing into something warmer so I can try and calm the crowd outside before..."

Her lightly lined features were blank in surprise as she stared at Ilia's mask, dark eyes flicking up and down, taking in her clothing and weapons before a shaky hand rose to her throat. "Oh. Oh gods."

Ilia steeled herself and dropped a hand to her weapon, drawing it free as she lowered her voice into a rough growl. "He deserved it."

The new widow's mouth quivered and she took a slow step back. "Oh gods... I warned him. Gods... was it... fast?"

Against her better judgment, Ilia gave her a very slight nod before speaking. "You need to get out of my way."

There was a tiny nod, a sob, then the woman staggered to one side. Her shoulder hit the wall and she slumped, falling slowly to her knees as her body shook. "God's... Alabastor... gods..."

Her stomach rolled again at the honest anguish that the man's wife was displaying, and she wasted no time in starting forwards again. Lightning Lash was kept ready but not quite aimed at the woman, who did nothing but continue to cry and choke as Ilia moved past her.

Whatever luck had been with her so far had obviously run out, because as she neared the guest room at the end of the hall another voice called. "Mother!? What's wrong..._who is that!?"_

Ilia snapped her head around to see the teenage son staring at her from the stairwell she'd come up, his expression somewhere between rage and terror.

"Fuck." The word came out as a hiss as she turned and ripped the door open. Cardin Winchester let out a furious sound behind her as she ran through the dark room for the balcony door.

She shoved it open and was on the balcony just as the young Winchester stormed into the bedroom, his long legs and the now-open doors helping him catch up. Ilia took a split second to rip a grenade from her belt, double-press a small button on the side, and toss it over her shoulder before she vaulted the balcony's wall and dropped.

A pained snarl came out of her throat as she caught herself on a third floor window sill, her eyes snapping up in time to a rush of mist and snow flare out from the white-dust filled bomb she'd just detonated. There was another furious sound, then a masculine cry before something exploded in the room she'd just left. The entire balcony simply erupted in a flash of fire and steam, rubble pelting her as she lost her grip and fell once more.

Instinct had her legs extend, kicking off from the wall and letting her tuck as she fell. Her aura flared as she hit the ground hard, her upper back and shoulders striking first as she rolled. The motion and aura saved her from a broken spine and paralyzation, but it didn't help the rush of pain that had her slow to get up as she gasped in pain.

Fortunately for her, the teenager chasing her wasn't as experienced. He was probably still in the part of his training where he thought aura made him all but invincible.

He threw himself out of the gaping hole in the side of the building, flaring his own aura as he came down. His soul's protection saved him from a pair of broken legs, but the sheer pain of landing on them made both of them buckle, leaving his ass to strike the ground and his mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

Scrambling up to her feet, she gave him a single look before tearing across the small grounds to the privacy wall. A hard jump got her hands atop it, and she heaved herself up and over in a single motion.

Even more sirens began to blare in the city around her as she cut across the tiny but manicured yards and gardens that surrounded the other tower mansions in the neighborhood. Leaping various fences and walls to avoid going anywhere near the street, she came over the last one to land in a narrow alley between one the estates and a bank that catered to that particular bracket of wealth. Moving to her right got her into the service alley that supported the bank and businesses farther along, and to where a single dark van was idling.

Its engine rumbled into gear as she sprinted to its rear, yanking the door open before leaping inside.

"Go." She hissed, trying to get the door closed and her incriminating gear off at the same time. "Casually as you can!"

Tukson gave her a hard look in the rear view mirror but he got them moving forwards regardless, "What happened?"

"He's... The target was eliminated." It was easier to say it that way, for some reason. "I was on my way out when the son spotted me. His semblance made a mess of things, but I got away when he did something stupid."

"...let's hope Khan is right and this actually helps us."

Ilia closed her eyes and breathed, her spots flaring a dull blue while she fought the urge to throw up as she remembered the slumped body and the sobbing widow. "You didn't hear him in there. The man was a screaming racist. He was trying to force Ozpin into not letting faunus into Beacon. He deserved it."

"Not saying he didn't." Tukson replied as he swung them out into the street, joining what little traffic was around. "Just saying I hope it doesn't backfire. You get anything else?"

"Two thumb drives." She replied as she pulled her mask off, setting it aside and starting on her her weapon's belt. "If we're lucky there will be good data on them, or at least things we can release to make him even less sympathetic."

"Hn. Not a bad idea." He nodded, "One of our girls is a tech support worker in her daily life. I'll call her in tomorrow. How far should we go before we ditch the van?"

"Other side of the river, find a parking garage without cameras." She pulled two fire dust vials free from her belt, then tossed the belt onto the floor. "We'll burn it out to make sure there's no evidence left. Then it's on foot back to headquarters and I'll send the completion message."

_And hopefully this will make people take us seriously... so that I don't have to do it again._

* * *

_**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**_

_**Thanks, Kat**_


	7. The Complications

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"_The debate over faunus rights continues to rage as the elections draw closer." _The rather attractive woman smiled from behind the news desk, the VNN logo prominent on its facing. "_While all of the candidates have come out against the methods being used and confirm that they consider the White Fang to be a terrorist organizations, all but two have also stated that the faunus of Vale have legitimate grievances with the government's enforcement of the Equality Acts."_

Ilia sipped from a bottle of beer, her feet up on an old crate while she leaned back on an equally worn couch. The tiny 'lounge' in the middle of the warehouse was hidden away by various crates, but they'd managed to squeeze in a make-shift bar and plenty of furniture all the same.

"_In particular they hold that the rash of attacks on businesses blatantly refusing to serve Faunus customers is reprehensible, but that the lack of police action in enforcing the city's own laws is equally illegal." _The reporter, the screen named her as Lisa Lavender, continued, "_Chief of Police Waters tended his resignation to the Council this morning, despite calls for him to remain in place until after the election. We go now to Calla Leavens outside of police headquarters, covering their efforts to fight back against the White Fang."_

"It's working." Perry smiled from the back-less armchair he was sitting on, his own bottle raising in a silent salute. "They're finally taking us seriously."

There was a rumble of agreement from the dozen or so faunus present, several of them raising their own cheap drinks before downing more alcohol. None of them were in uniform tonight, everyone simply gathering to spend time with their comrades in arms.

It had been a long two months since her actions at the Firefighter's Gala. The initial public reaction to the assassination had been swift and negative, proving Tukson right and giving Ilia doubts, but she had pulled herself together in time to make a counter-play. Among various business letters, the thumb drives she'd stolen had proven to contain various messages between Winchester and others who supported his beliefs. Messages that made his screaming racism and loathing for the faunus blatantly clear.

She'd wanted to release the text as soon as they'd broken the passwords and realized what they had, but it had been Perry who'd come up with a better plan. They'd waited an extra few days, until the morning of the funeral. While the widowed wife gave a tearful speech, they'd dumped everything anonymously to the net and sent additional copies to every major news station in Vale.

The subsequent media frenzy had more or less ruined the funeral's coverage and changed the narrative rather sharply. Not really enough to paint them in a _good_ light, but it had muddied the waters enough that any talk of a crack-down on the faunus as a whole had died. Even better, the constant coverage had inspired many young and energized faunus to take up the mask, to help fight back. Even better, many of them had useful contacts, skills, or even friends who were sympathetic enough to lend a hand.

_He's not wrong, _Ilia mused as she looked around. _Things are starting to look up. We'd still be in the sewers if the news wasn't constantly talking about faunus rights._

Shortly after the gala, Adam had sent a short message on one of the various forums the White Fang used for clandestine communication. He'd congratulated her on a job well done and urged her not to let up on the momentum. Ilia had been all too happy to bury herself in the work, doing her best to get the city's branch back into working order as she tried to forget what she'd done.

There hadn't been any more killings, at least that she knew of. Instead they'd focused on burglary and vandalism. Any shop with a 'No-Faunus' sign became a target, and any wealthy individual who released a statement demonizing them was fair game. In the interest of building up some confidence among the locals she had mostly focused on the latter, letting Perry and Tukson handle the former.

A few times they'd had to engage the police in order to escape into the sewers and forgotten tunnels under Vale, but by some miracle they'd avoided any real wounds on either side. The lack of consequences had done miracles to bolster the confidence of those already involved, and to encourage those on the fence to join up and fight the good fight.

"So," Perry turned to her with a grin, "When do we accelerate? I mean, hitting one or two shops a week had been working so far, but I think we've finally got the people to do more."

Ilia smiled and shook her head, "Easy there, remember that we've got more to do than just breaking into stores with illegal signs in the window."

"Yeah, but none of it brings in people like those raids do." He pushed his glasses up as his smile faded, "It's working. It's really working, we've got to keep the pressure up or they'll start covering celebrity gossip again."

"We will, we will." She held a hand up to try and calm him down, "I'm not saying we're going to slow down, I'm saying that we can't afford to be reckless. You almost got pinned down last week, and the police are ramping things up every day."

He waved a dismissive hand. "You could take any cop in this city."

While his confidence in her was flattering, she was a lot less sanguine about the idea of openly fighting the police. The moment she did, the moment the VPD realized that the White Fang had a huntress on staff, they'd start recruiting their own hunters to fight back... and there was a lot more of them than there was of her.

_I can probably beat a student, or escape from a professional with my semblance... but a straight fight? No, bad idea._

"I can't be everywhere at once." Ilia reminded him patiently, "And I'm still the only one here with infiltration and serious combat training, which is what we need to focus on now. Or what _you _will be focusing on."

Perry frowned. "You want me to try and train people?"

She fought down her impatience. Perry was quick to learn but he could be painfully slow on the uptake sometimes. "No, I want you to go with the next group we send to Mountain Glenn. I've mentioned how well you've been picking things up to Adam, and he wants to take you on as a protege, get you ready to take my place when I rotate back out."

The man opened his mouth, closed it, then started to flush when the others began to whistle and clap. A few stepped over and clapped him on the back, making his embarrassment even worse. Ilia waited until the well wishers had mostly quieted down before speaking again, "You'll be going out at the end of the week, if that's enough time for you to handle getting a vacation from your day job."

"I'll f-figure it out." Perry stammered, eyes still a bit glazed. "Gods. Me? A cell leader? I'm... honored but-"

"You're a quick learner, passionate, organized, devoted, and a lot more of a people person than I am." Ilia smiled, "You might not be much of a fighter, but that's what Adam will be helping you with."

That only made his embarrassment worse, his flush rising as he looked at her for a several moments before quickly looking away. For her part, Ilia did her best to avoid shifting uncomfortably at the look. While Perry knew her preferences, that didn't seem to stop him from starting to like her in a way she wasn't entirely comfortable with. Something that probably wasn't helped by the fact that they worked together on an almost daily basis, and there wasn't really a way to avoid that.

Still, he had yet to go beyond covert looks and the occasional enamored expression, so it wasn't anything she couldn't deal with.

"Go ahead and take the night off to celebrate," She said as she got to her feet, "Tukson can handle this week's raid, you just focus on getting ready to head out."

"You're not staying?" He asked, doing only a mediocre job of hiding his disappointment.

She shook her head, "I have a heist to plan. Have fun, make sure someone is sober enough to get you home alive."

There was a general round of laughter, and then various faunus again converged on their future leader. Ilia slipped out while the merriment continued, walking down a slim 'hallway' between two crates before ducking through the tarp that served to hide the lounge's entrance. It wasn't much of a disguise, but a warehouse being used for long-term storage didn't really attract much attention to begin with.

Outside were two figures, one seated on a folding chair, the other leaning against one of the many crates.

"Make sure you get someone sober to relieve you in an hour." She told the young woman standing guard. "I won't be back tonight."

The young woman in a rough facsimile of a security uniform, brought a fist into a hand in a quick salute, her antlers gleaming a little in the dim light. "Yes, Leader."

Ilia nodded and glanced at the seated man, "Mind giving me a ride back to my hotel?"

Tukson simply stood up and pulled keys out of his pocket. The pair walked out of the corner area and down the main run of the warehouse, past crates that claimed to hold canned goods but in reality held what few supplies they'd been able to accumulate so far. In time there'd be more than just a few cases of dust, medical supplies, and preserved food... but for now most of the crates were empty.

_Fixing that is still my main job._

"You still don't approve of the new path?" She asked the question only once they were out of earshot of the guards-woman.

"It's working at the moment, I'll admit that much." Came the easy reply, "But we both know we're running out of easy targets, and the backlash is growing."

She sucked in a slow breath and then let it out. "What do you propose we do instead? If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

From the way he grimaced she guessed that he wasn't looking forwards to this conversation. But he didn't let that stop him from talking as they slipped out of the warehouse and began heading for his car. "We need to push harder on the charity front, even if we aren't officially the ones doing it. The city's nervous, holding its breath, but if violent action is all we offer eventually they're going to turn against us."

"We're working on it." She reminded him, "Putting the old organization back together is taking time, but we _are _working that angle as well."

"Slowly. I'm saying that should be our priority." He said as he unlocked the car, continuing to speak as they both climbed in. "It seems like all the lien we're managing to scrape together is going out as fast as it comes in. Thought we were supposed to be keeping at least half of it."

Ilia felt herself grimace. She'd said as much to Adam and hadn't gotten anywhere. "...orders change sometimes. The other cells need it more."

"Do they?" Tukson asked as he started the engine, spent a moment to turn the lights on, then got them moving. "Vale's the heart the kingdom but it feels like all Taurus wants from us is notice in the press, zealots who want to fight, and lien to fund his own attacks."

Her spots darkened. "Too far, Tukson."

The man let out a frustrated huff as they pulled out onto the streets, heading away from the harbor. "Call it like I see it. Sure, they took down most of those damned vigilantes last week, but did they really have to kill most of them?"

"They died fighting."

"Did they?" His voice was flat. "Look in me in the eye and tell me you believe that."

Ilia... looked out her window. As much as she wanted to deny it, she could still see Adam holding his sword above a surrendered guard, ready to bring it down. He hadn't then, but... without Sienna's direct supervision, it was only her and Blake. She was obviously busy, and Adam wouldn't bring Blake into a fight with living opponents if he could help it.

It... seemed all too likely that at least a few of the humans had died after the fighting was over.

Still...

_Admit it yourself Ilia... you're having doubts, and you can't afford those._

She inhaled slowly and then let it out, keeping herself calm. Focused. Convicted. "They were murderers and rapists who escaped justice. If they died then it's not exactly a loss."

"Maybe not." Tukson admitted, "But like I said, how long until we run out of obvious targets like that? We're already getting close to the point where we'll be attacking shops just because some random faunus thought a clerk was judging them. How well is that going to play on the news? On our recruitment fliers?"

"I get it." She replied, irritation coloring her voice as her spots flared. "But again, what do you want _me _to do about it? I'm a temporary cell leader, a scout huntress, and a burglar. I'm following my orders and doing the best I can."

If he was upset or annoyed by her tone he didn't show it. "Your _new _orders which are worse than your old ones and you know it. You've already ignored another assassination assignment, don't tell me that you haven't."

Her heart skipped a beat and her spots flipped from red to blue. "...how did you find out about that?"

"Perry." He said simply. "He thought you should have gone through with it."

_Of course he did..._

"I killed his father, he's got the right to hate me and make badly written speeches about it." She murmured. "But he's still fifteen years old. I'm not assassinating a fifteen year old boy who's got no real power."

Trying to find the right way to tell that to Adam after she'd gotten the order by message hadn't gone anywhere. In the end she'd simply given up and given him a white lie about Cardin Winchester being too heavily protected given that he and his mother were now living in Signal Academy, surrounded by student level hunters and professional level teachers.

Perry had still thought she could do it, in his boundless confidence in her skills. And she probably could have... not at the school, exactly, but the boy wasn't always at school. He went out to give speeches with his mother, trying to keep their personal tragedy in the limelight despite the public loathing of his deceased father.

But the key word in all of that was 'boy'. Ilia had crossed a line, she knew that. She'd done it so that future faunus wouldn't have to.

But there were some lines she wouldn't cross. Couldn't cross.

Tukson gave her an approving look then returned his eyes to the road, "Yeah, and that gives me hope. You're not bloodthirsty or just out for revenge, you want to make a difference. We all do. I don't know what's going on with the rest of the White Fang, but I think we've still got a chance of pulling off the balanced approach you were preaching when you first got here. We just have to do it before you rotate out."

Her head fell back against her seat as she sighed. Tukson might have been competent, devoted, and intelligent... but he was terrible for her morale.

_Probably a good thing to have someone like him around, but that doesn't make it any less exhausting. _

"...what are you thinking?"

"We start by keeping most of the lien we're bringing in." He said at once, "We use it to start up the old charity drives again, start showing the carrot instead of just the stick. We make sure to serve poor faunus and humans alike. Make it clear to everyone that we're not racist extremists."

Ilia twisted her lips. "Can't say I like that idea much, and I know a lot of the others will hate it."

"If we don't, we're violating the same equality laws the humans are." Tukson nodded as they stopped at a light, a police vehicle crossing ahead of them. "The cops will have every reason to crack down on that. Hell, they'd probably say they're shutting down White Fang recruiting operations to make themselves look better."

A hand rose to rub tiredly at her temples as she thought about it. What he wanted wasn't really all _that _extreme... if anything it was basically just the original plan as she'd told them all when she'd arrived. But the past few months had started making it clear that the plan she'd been given had been _Sienna'_s, not Adam's, and what interest he'd had in it had faded quickly. To him Vale was just a place where their enemies conveniently concentrated themselves.

His focus was entirely on the outer regions of the kingdom. On the easy victories to be found in destroying SDC mines or racist vigilante groups.

_This way is working... but like Tukson said, all of the recruits were getting are the ones who want to fight. We need them, but what happens when the fighting ends? Who will be there to put everything back together?_

They didn't have anyone like the Albain brothers, or the support staff that they trained and shipped out to Mistral and Vacuo. The kinds of people who made sure the organization was just that; an _organization. _A group that could actually help run a village, a city, a kingdom. Who could involve themselves seriously in local politics and make their voices heard.

_We've made the humans take notice of us... but for how long?_

Tukson also hadn't been wrong when he'd said they were running low on easy targets. Vale wasn't as stubborn as Mistral, nor nearly as corrupt. They couldn't simply hit one part of town and leave the criminals running the other sections shrugging and jumping in to take advantage. Even the most racist humans here were already starting to pull down their 'No Faunus' signs in favor of more subtle ways to make them unwelcome. Eventually they'd be going after people based on hearsay, and that had the potential to backfire real fast.

"We can try it." She said after a few blocks of thinking it over. "We'll keep whatever donations we get for the next two weeks, and whatever we get for what I steal. That should be enough for at least one charity run if you can find enough recruits to run it. If it goes well we can keep running with it."

He nodded slightly, though more of an acknowledgment that she'd spoken than in agreement. He probably wasn't about to get his hopes up until she did something to earn it.

"So," Tukson said in a tone indicating he was changing the subject, "Where are you going after I drop you off?"

"My room." She waved a vague hand, "That contact of Vi's came through this morning. I've got the complete plans for the mansion of some coffee mogul who donated fifty thousand lien to the Winchester's about a month before the gala."

"When were you going to move? Be nice if we could time our next attack to go along with yours." He might have had more than a few doubts, but Tukson was nothing if not professional. "The more divided the police response the better odds we all have of getting out."

Ilia hummed in thought. "I was actually thinking of a daylight run to avoid any personal encounters."

His fingers drummed as he slowed, pulling over and into a dimly lit parking lot. One of the many hotels in the city catering to Hunters loomed above them as he parked near the entrance, keeping the engine running. "I think I can make that work. I'll get back to you by the end of the week."

She nodded as she opened her door and slipped out, "Thanks for the ride. See you around."

Tukson brought two fingers up to the side of his head in an abbreviated salute, then pulled away. Ilia watched him go, then headed inside.

The lobby was largely empty given the late hour, though the bar attached to the hotel looked to be doing a brisk trade even though it was nearly midnight. She'd spent more than few late evenings there herself, in the immediate aftermath especially, but she still had work to do tonight.

And besides, the last thing she needed was to add alcoholism to her list of problems. A list of problems that grew exponentially when she reached her first floor room, opened the door, and found that she'd had visitors while she'd been out.

They hadn't trashed the room or anything so pointless... they'd made their point in other ways.

The secure safe she'd been storing her various clandestine goods inside of was wide open, the blueprints, documents, and various thieving tools were now neatly laid out one of the two double beds. Lightning Lash was next to them, the weapon completely disassembled with all of her dust cartridges missing. Both of the cheap scrolls she used to keep in touch with Perry and Tuskon were on the end table in a similar state of dismantlement, and the bag she'd been using to store hard currency was missing.

But the most blatant act had been to break her White Fang mask in half, then carefully prop both pieces on top of her pillow.

A small hand written note lay between them, and after closing the door behind her, she cautiously walked over and picked it up.

"_I don't appreciate little animals running around my town, who are so ill trained they didn't even have the courtesy to ask my permission before stealing from my marks. I helped myself to your gains as payment for that insult, but I'm afraid that's as far as my mercy goes. You have until tomorrow to be out of Vale or you'll have a cage and collar of your very own in the city prison."_

Ilia closed her eyes as her skin rippled to a furious scarlet, her spots blazing yellow. The note crumbled in her fist as her teeth ground together, the only words she could think of saying coming out in a low snarl. "Fucking dammit!"

* * *

**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**

**Thanks, Kat**


	8. The Return

**Chapter 8**

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Adam's voice was perfectly flat, never a good sign. "You were identified by some human thief who believes that Vale is his own personal playground. He called you an animal and threatened to reveal you to the authorities. Then instead of dealing with him, or even attempting to retaliate, you instead ran away with your tail tucked between your legs."

Ilia kept her breathing even and her skin normal as she did her best to maintain her own forced calm. "After evaluating the situation I decided that removing myself from Vale was the right decision for the White Fang."

"The right decision was to make us look like weak willed cowards?" Adam's jaw clenched, "Are you even listening to yourself? You backed down to some peacock of a human without even making an effort to fight back!"

A hot reply lept to her lips, and it took a massive amount of willpower to keep them shut. If this had been a private argument she wouldn't have hesitated to ask what the hell his problem was... but it wasn't.

Blake was standing awkwardly behind Adam, her ears flat against her skull as her eyes flicked between the two as each spoke. Still, if she'd been the only one Illia wouldn't have held back though she may have tried to refrain from going too far... but Perry and the dozen or so faunus who'd departed Vale with them were _also_ present.

_Which is the only reason I'm putting up with this._

It hadn't taken their small party very long to reach Mountain Glenn, where they'd found Adam and a few people from the western cells already present and gearing up for an operation of their own. Which had struck her as fairly ideal timing, since that would give Adam the options of taking a few recruits with while leaving others to help defend the camp, breaking them in slowly.

Those forward thinking thoughts hadn't lasted long. Tukson had apparently been able to get a message out after tall, detailing what had happened in Vale, because Adam had confronted her before they'd even had a chance to set their packs aside.

She'd expected a bit of disappointment, maybe a little show of Adam's temper, but a public berating in front of the people she'd help recruit hadn't even been on her list of possibilities. Especially since, by any standard she knew of, they'd accomplished a lot since she'd arrived in Vale. To hear him belittling everything they'd done over the last few months because she'd decided that picking a fight with Vale's criminal underground, on top of their ongoing fight with the authorities, wasn't a good idea... it was _infuriating_.

"This coming after you failed to complete tasks that I assigned to you, tasks that should have been more than simple given your experience and skills." He continued, his anger not abating even as her own steadily grew. "You disappointed me, Ilia. Such a promising start and yet you let our advantage slip through your fingers."

"I believe I did the best I could given the constantly changing objectives." Her voice stayed flat even as her words lashed out. "In three months of work we saw exponential growth in our recruiting efforts, constant media attention on the plight of the faunus, and-"

"You managed _one _attack a week." A hand slashed the air between them, "_One _heist a week. And that was _after _two months were you were lucky to get a mission completed every _two _weeks! That was not nearly good enough!"

"That's-"

He interrupted her again, "Such standards may have been acceptable in your first month given the state of the Vale cells, but your rate of progress was glacial. Embarrassing. And what's this I hear about you trying to start up some charity? A charity that would even serve _humans_?"

Ilia's self control slipped for a few seconds, her spots and eyes shifting to a blazing red. Everyone nearby, save for Blake, took a few subtle steps back as if they expected her to throw herself at him. She managed to avoid doing that even as the heat crept into her tones. "That _was _the original plan I was given."

"The plan was _never _to cater to humans." He spat back at her, "You're not even denying it."

"Operating support and charity groups was part of the plan." She clenched her fists as she spoke, "If we didn't at least _pretend_ to serve both species we would have only invited a backlash."

"A backlash that we could have used to our advantage!" Adam almost snarled, "You, of all people, saying that! Here I thought that you understood that a different direction was required. That you are my _subordinate, _that it is your duty to follow my orders. That is something I expect you to do far better moving forwards. Is that understood?"

She started to snarl back, but a bit of motion drew her eyes to Blake. Their friend's expression was terrified, her eyes pleading with her to back down. Ilia half closed her eyes and tightened her fists, but she managed to force an affirmative out. "...yes, Leader Taurus."

From the way his jaw clenched again he didn't care for her tone. Blake noticed and took a hesitant step forwards, touching his arm. The simple gesture seemed to settle him somewhat, his shoulders slowly relaxing as he took deep breaths. Blake took another step forwards, reaching up to lightly touch his cheek, and he gave her a small nod before speaking once more.

"Let us hope you do." He stated before turning to Perry, evidently done with her. "Perry. I've heard good things about your potential from everyone in the Vale cell. What's your evaluation of the situation in the capital?"

The canine faunus nervously adjusted his glasses, shifting his weight back and forth in discomfort. "Uhm... our p-progress was a little slower than I'd have liked, but it was very steady. We never had any setbacks or even any serious injuries! After last year that's something like a miracle."

"Wounds are inevitable in war." Adam countered, "It sounds like you're avoiding saying your leader was overcautious."

"She... is." Perry gave her a guilty look, then seemed to rally himself and more words came out in a rush. "But... I understand why she is, sir. When she arrived our cell was in bad shape, morale was at rock bottom. Injuries or arrests, or the gods forbid deaths, might have broken us entirely. We could barely scrounge up ten people for a raid. Maybe it was slow and steady, and maybe that wasn't what I wanted personally, but... I think it might have been what we needed."

Adam regarded the man, then turned his attention back to Ilia and nodded once. "Well, I suppose you excelled at instilling loyalty. Was the situation that bad?"

Ilia pressed her lips into a thin line, eyes and freckles remaining red. It was fight not to ask if he'd even bothered to read her reports, but once more she kept her self control and even managed to not sound like she was snarling when she spoke. "It was."

"I see." Adam said after a few silent moments. A few more tense seconds passed before he shook his head and turned back to Perry and the other transfers from Vale. "Well I suppose you all didn't come out here simply to watch me berate a huntress for not going far enough. Come on, lets get you all sorted out and get you fed. Blake, please finish debriefing Ilia, I'll be there when I'm finished."

Blake didn't waste any time in stepping forwards and taking Ilia by the arm. It definitely wasn't the best look all things considered, to be pulled away like that, but since she was basically holding on to her self control by her fingertips it was probably for the best. The younger woman led her through the underground camp until they reached what had been a ruined storefront the last time Ilia had been there.

It had gotten some work done since then, and was evidently serving as Adam's living quarters-slash-command center. The various broken walls had been patched up, while the shattered windows had been replaced with cloth and tarp. What had been the shopping area was now filled with tables, maps, charts, and there a large desk whose surface was covered in stacks of paperwork.

Her companion led her past those and through a doorway into the backrooms. An employee rest area from the faded signs was now a small kitchen and living space, and Blake quickly ushered to to a seat next to a plywood table before bustling over to start making tea.

"What the hell was that?" Ilia demanded when it became clear that Blake wasn't going to speak first. "Did he not even read any of my fucking reports!? And why did he feel the need to do all of that in front of my recruits!?"

"He's... we've been busy. Very busy. And stressed." Her hands hesitated, then resumed their work. "He's under a lot of pressure, with leading everything. And... well, things didn't go well out west."

She let out a heavy exhalation and tried to get everything back to its normal shades. Listening to Blake make excuses for Adam humiliating her in front of her own people wasn't exactly what she wanted, but she _did _need at least some kind of an explanation. Otherwise she probably wouldn't be able to control her temper when he showed his face in here.

And while it might be satisfying to break his nose, he'd very definitely kick her ass after and that wouldn't do anyone any good. Least of all herself.

"We didn't hear much besides the news reports, there wasn't much coverage. Something about the trial ending and everything settling down, so I thought you dealt with all of them just fine. What actually happened?"

Blake closed her eyes and bowed her head as she set a kettle to boiling on a small heating coil. "They covered it up is what happened."

That made her grimace and brace herself, temper fading a little as she focused. "That bad?"

There was a tiny nod though Blake didn't actually turn around to face her. "The trials finished right when we got out there. At first it seemed like it would be just like we thought. They were sentenced for vigilante activity, a small fine each, nothing major. We expected that and it didn't really make us angry so much as it focused everyone. We had our plans and were ready for that. Then..."

Blake shook her head sharply, took a moment, then seemed to force herself to resume speaking. "Then the local sheriff arrested the wife of the dead farmer, and her children. Said they had been affiliated with terrorists. Were accomplices. He used the planted guns as evidence. The huntsman who caught them protested but the judge allowed it. They cuffed them right in the court room, right after they were told they wouldn't get justice."

Ilia stared at her for a few moments, then lowered her head and closed her eyes as well. "Shit."

"We raided the jail that night, just after sunset." The younger woman shook her head once, "We caught one of the deputies... violating her. Adam killed him. I got the children out of another cell, then we made a run for it. Sheriff got the vigilantes together and they all came after us. They pinned us down near a river, but the local cell came out to help us. They attacked the humans from behind, let me get the family to safety and left Adam free to double-back."

"He killed them all." It was more of a statement than a question.

"They did." Blake said with no emphasis on the correction. "I.. I think a few tried to surrender but... it was too much. Everyone was too angry. Adam and a few others went back into town, help the locals pack up everything they needed to come with us as fast as they could. We thought we'd be pursued but only the huntsman caught up to us. Said he'd reported what the judge and sheriff did, that the Council decided to hush it up. Then he let us go, said he'd reveal everything if the Council sent anyone else after us. Told us to get the family to safety and lay low."

"Probably their only option, with all the negativity running around." Ilia murmured, glancing at Blake's hunched form. "That would have been... what, a week or so after Winchester died?"

Blake's shoulders visibly tightened. "...I wanted to ask you about that."

_Fuck! Me and my fucking mouth._

"What about it?" She tried for nonchalance but doubted she managed anything close to it.

"...you killed him, didn't you?"

Ilia pursed her lips and looked away from Blake, trying and failing to come up with anything she could say in response. Blake was young, maybe a little naive, definitely had poor taste in romantic partners, but she wasn't stupid. The media had made it blatantly clear that Winchester had been killed by a faunus, and with the Vale cell being what it was... she was really the only person who could have done it.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that, Blake?" She asked quietly.

"Ilia..."

Ilia sucked in a sharp breath and let it out, trying to force her rolling stomach to settle. "He was the one behind that group you dealt with, or at least the one who got them off. I listened to him literally screaming at the headmaster of Beacon that we were animals who should be rounded up and deported. We found emails he sent to other people like him that we wanted an economic blockade of Menagerie. He wanted to starve our city to death. He was evil."

"You murdered him." The words were a quiet whisper.

There wasn't really much she could say to that. Whatever she may have thought about him, however much he had deserved it, at the end of the day she _had _murdered him in cold blood. She hadn't even warned him, insulted him, anything. Just bang, thump, one living faunus terrorist, one dead racist human.

The kettle whistling saved her from having to respond immediately, the sound knocking Blake out of whatever dark mental space she'd ended up in. Soon enough they were both seated with lightly steaming cups in their hands, both young women sipping the scalding liquid rather than trying to carry on the uncomfortable conversation.

Adam found them in the same tense silence five minutes later, his mask settling onto the table as he sat, his one good eye flicked between them. His voice was low and still tinged with anger when he spoke, his attention words aimed at Blake while his glare settled on Ilia. "What happened?"

"You lied to me." Blake said quietly.

Their leader's back stiffened as the glare upgraded to a scowl. "You told her?"

Ilia glowered right back at him, "Haven't you already accused me of enough today? She guessed and I couldn't exactly deny it."

"You lied to me," Blake repeated, "And you told her not to tell me what you had her do in Vale."

"What Sienna ordered her to do." Adam spread his hands apart, "Blake, he was the one behind the vigilantes. You know that. He wasn't the kind of person we could talk down. Sometimes we have to go that far if we want to make a better world for the faunus."

"But... killing people in cold blood?" Her head shook, "People who fight us, attack us... I mean, that's self defense. But murdering some old man?"

Adam rose from his chair, moving around so that he could kneel beside Blake's. "Love... this is a war. Your parents refused to see it, but Sienna did, just like you and I did. We have to fight or nothing will ever change. Men like Winchester... He wasn't just some old man. He might not have fought us with a sword or a gun, but he fought us with his money, his influence. He _was _attacking us."

Blake closed her eyes, scrunching them up as though she was trying to shut out the entire world. "I... that doesn't... it doesn't _feel _right."

"I know." Adam gently rested both of his hands on one of her knees, "I know it's hard. But it's necessary. I'll never ask you to do anything like that. I swear it."

"I..." Yellow eyes opened, a complicated rush of emotions pulling at them before she glanced to one side. Adam quickly reached up and caught her chin, pulling her face back around to look at him while Ilia found her own eyes narrowing a little. "I.."

"Our next mission," Adam spoke over her, firmly but not severely. "Is in the north. An SDC enclosed village with more than a hundred faunus trapped inside. A good mission. A _just _mission."

"...ok." Blake said quietly, her eyes seemingly focusing on the brand that had ruined her partner's face. "I'll be ready."

He nodded once, leaned up and kissed her for a moment. Ilia started to look away, but found her eyes narrowing further when Blake clearly began to lean in to the kiss just as Adam pulled back. The disappointed expression she held faded when he gave her an almost proud smile, then he returned to his chair, attention turning back to Ilia.

"You'll be coming with us, resuming your post as lead scout." He informed her, voice turning curt. "You and Blake will be in charge of leading us along the route, then you'll be on watch for the Grimm during the actual raid."

Ilia tapped a single finger on the makeshift table. "Will I be berated for merely doing an 'acceptable' job this time as well?"

Adam's one good eye narrowed sharply, then Blake quickly reached out to take his hand. He seemed to squeeze it once, nod slightly, then spoke, "I... apologize for doing that in front of your men. It was... not a good example to set."

As far as apologies went that one was both unexpected yet utterly lacking. She was more than ready to needle him further, only for Blake's _other _hand to reach out and grab onto one of hers. A glance saw their eyes meet, and not for the first time Ilia felt her heart skip a beat before she quickly looked away.

"I... apology accepted." She managed to mumble out. "Just do it in private next time, or work it out in a spar between the three of us or something."

While he didn't look terribly thrilled at her words himself, or maybe it was just a bit of possessiveness over how she'd reacted to Blake, he kept his own words conciliatory. "That would probably be better, yes."

Ilia nodded and sipped some tea, Blake giving her hand a final squeeze before letting go. Her hand immediately felt colder, and she self-consciously brought it to cradle her warm cup as well. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." Adam straightened a little, looking glad for the return to businesses. "We have a few vehicles now, donated or brought with from the western villages. Should only take us a few days to reach the northern coast and the SDC camp. Like I said, you and Blake will be in the front in an open car. Once we get closer you'll go ahead to ensure the path is clear."

"No others with us?" She asked.

"No." His head shook once, "I unlocked a few auras, and we picked up a half-trained recruit last week, but I need them here, training. We'll take one team of your city dwellers with us. Banesaw will be responsible for whipping the rest into shape."

Ilia blinked. "Who?"

"Grey." Blake rolled her eyes, "One of the reports we got from Sienna called him that, apparently it's the SDC's new code-name for him. He liked it so much he's telling everyone to use it instead of his actual name."

"Oh gods." She groaned. "He would."

Adam smirked at her, "It's certainly better than Trix"

She blinked again, "What?"

Color rose up in Blake's cheeks while Adam's grin grew, "_Your _code-name. You fight with a whip and like to wear leather, but the full title was a bit long so they shortened it down to Trix."

Ilia needed a second before her mouth fell open, "You can't be serious! Blake, tell me this bastard is lying!"

"Well..."

Adam started cackling, and for one afternoon... they were all friends again. Joking, laughing, teasing, eating together. But every time her eyes met Adam's... Ilia knew that things had changed. That something had come between them. That the laughter and jokes were more for Blake's sake than theirs, that Blake was the only reason they'd even attempted to apologize to one another. Tried to put the display of Adam's temper behind them.

But... it wasn't that far behind them, and Ilia felt certain that things would get worse before they got better.

* * *

**Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."**

**Thanks, Kat**


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